Untold Truths
by PuppyLuvr06
Summary: A mysterious boy is seen wandering around Askr, and soon finds himself in the midst of the Order of Heroes. With him comes more questions than answers. Meanwhile, Alfonse sets out on his own mission to uncover some secrets for a friend. Both groups discover things that would've been better left unknown... [Semi-AU] [Alfonse/Zacharias]
1. Chapter 1- Letters

(A/N: Alright, first things first. This story takes place after my previous story, Controlled by Fate, and there _are mentions to it throughout this story_. Alfonse's part of the plot can hopefully be read without needing to read the other story, but Sharena's part is a bit more dependent on the events of it.)

{-Alfonse-}

Four months ago, Zacharias had sent Alfonse a letter. He didn't read it, however, until almost two months later. It took him a month to get a reply from his old friend, and since then they've been sending letters back and forth.

Zacharias wanted him to look into Emblian visitors to Askr…or, specifically, Zacharias's mother—the Emblian empress accused of sharing imperial secrets with Askr, and was sentenced to death in solitude and starvation far below in the palace dungeons a little over eight years ago.

Alfonse's reply had been simple:

'I'll see what I can do. But…might I ask why? If you think something is missing from the story, shouldn't there be records of the trial somewhere in Embla? Or am I completely wrong about this..?'

Admittedly, most information he got about the subject (or really anything relating to do with Embla) was from outdated books and listening to things not much more than rumors. All detailed descriptions of Emblian life told of the time when the two kingdoms worked together; which was not really a reliable source of they were living now. He didn't even realize the odd state of the Emblian royal family until reuniting with Zacharias a year ago, and he knew he still didn't see the full picture. That whole concept was never something he was ever able to completely grasp.

About a week since he sent his letter, Zacharias had answered:

'Believe me, I've tried. Everywhere I look, it's like she'd never existed at all. Veronica's looked in every reasonable place they'd be, the only thing she could find was the note subjecting my mother to death for her betrayal. I know Askr probably got rid of almost all the obvious evidence that they'd ever helped Embla, but it's worth a shot as any.

I don't need you to go on a full-out search to retrace her steps and figure out exactly what she was doing. I just want you to figure out what these "imperial secrets" were all about. If I'm right…they condemned someone who was completely innocent. What she was trying to do only harmed the empire by our father's standards.'

Alfonse had asked how Zacharias figured this out. He had to admit that he also just wanted to kind of feel like Zacharias was still there; reading the letters and hearing his voice in Alfonse's head. It helped him figure out a plan on how he was going to do what he'd been asked.

He waited for Zacharias's letter:

'In short, I've been keeping myself busy over the years. I can tell Veronica doesn't like it but nothing's going to get done if I stay there too long. She's got Xander to keep her company.

But you're an information kind of person. I've looked deep into this mess and found some pretty interesting details. For one, only one Emblian heir ever had kids—even if there's multiple siblings, only one, normally the oldest, continues on the line. The only exception to this was Thrasir's children, but all the grandkids that branched out died off there save for my literally-hundreds-of-greats-grandparents. Something happened that kept the Emblian royal blood from straying to the common folk. You've probably already finished my thought by now with that big brain of yours.

My guess is that my mother knew what that was. Our grandparents's generation was the last time Askr and Embla worked together. That alliance split when your grandfather died and Askr found out Embla had been lying to them about the portals. I know our father wasn't always right in the head, neither was the ruler before him, and, well…you've seen me and Veronica. I think my mother told that to Askr—she had good intentions, but our father saw it as a threat to Embla's power.

I just need you to figure out if I'm right.'

Zacharias seemed pretty confident. Or as confident as he could sound through a letter. Alfonse hoped he was right as he wrote out his latest letter:

'Alright. I'll see if I can help.

If…if it's okay to ask… What do you plan on doing once this is all over? When it's safe for you to be with us again?'

He couldn't get himself to write any more. Alfonse got up from his chair, tucking the letter away to avoid anyone seeing it. He left his room and began looking for Sharena.

Not too long ago, she'd made him promise to tell her when he planned on doing his own thing for a while. She'd never liked it when he'd just randomly disappear, and honestly he really didn't like it when she was mad at him, so they'd struck a deal.

Zacharias had told Alfonse in his first letter to keep their partnership a secret. So far Alfonse had done a pretty good job at doing that; Anna seemed to have forgotten about the letter Zacharias gave him, and Sharena, even though she'd accompanied him to the tree he placed them for Zacharias to find, hasn't questioned him yet about it. He could only hope Sharena wouldn't try to get him to tell her more.

Alfonse found his sister outside. She was having a conversation with a group of Heroes, which included the Summoner, Fauna. He felt a bit bad to interrupt them.

Sharena noticed him without him needing to say anything. "I gotta go, girls." She bounded over to him. "Same as last week?"

He nodded. "Kind of. But I can tell you on the way there."

They began their walk. Sharena made sure they didn't stay silent.

"Me and some of the Heroes are gonna have a sleepover," she announced excitedly. "We're gonna steal cookies from the kitchen, talk about cute stuff, stay up super late, and I even got Fauna to agree to tell us about her boyfriend!" Sharena was practically bouncing. "Well, technically, she just said friend but I'm pretty confident they were dating."

It was nice seeing her happy like this. "That sounds like it'll be fun." He actually had no clue if it did, and she probably knew that. As the Order's castle got further away, he began saying what he wanted to tell her. "I'm going to have to do something on my own for a bit. You're okay with that, right?"

"It's about those letters, isn't it?" Sharena, thankfully, didn't sound very sad. Maybe a little, but it was more understanding. He nodded again. "Then it's fine. Commander Anna's got a list of things we've got to get done, anyways. Most of the time I might not even realize you're not there." There was something to her tone that proved otherwise.

He was glad she understood. "I shouldn't be too long."

Sharena shrugged. "Take as much time as you need. Really I'd be more concerned on what you're going to tell her."

Alfonse sighed. After their more recent quest (the one that had pushed back his reading of Zacharias's letter until two months since receiving it), news came in of a strange boy being seen around Askr and Anna made it clear she didn't want anyone in the Order to be alone outside of the castle gates. It was one reason Sharena had been accompanying Alfonse when he dropped off and picked up the letters. He still didn't know how he was going to excuse his absence to the commander.

"I guess I'll figure it out when I get there."

"You always do!"

(A/N: *gasp* Sharena's being a normal seventeen-year-old girl! Stiiiiiill has the habits, thought process, and mental capacity of a kid, though. So close.)


	2. Chapter 2- Orders

{-Sharena-}

She'd walked back to the castle alone, since it wasn't that far and Alfonse wanted to stay at the royal castle. Sharena made her way to where she knew Anna and Fauna where waiting.

"Where's your brother?" Anna looked over at Sharena

"Alfonse wanted to do some reading," Sharena answered simply, shrugging. "And I wanted to come back here."

"So you walked here alone and unarmed."

"Yup."

Sharena had a feeling, however, it wouldn't have mattered if she'd brought her lance or not.

Their latest adventure had brought a few changes with them. Lasting for about two months, it started with reports of missing people and ended with them all back in Askr after a while in a world of "nightmares" (it was supposed to be full of nightmares, but the only thing she'd only came across them in the one form they were always in: dreams, while she was asleep, like normal). In the last day they were there, they (kind of) met a boy named Natheniel—someone who knew them all by name and even had a photo of them. Sharena, having been given the wonderful curse of the gods that she still didn't have an explanation to, had had nightmares since the beginning, that apparently did have to do with their quest, and she'd heard the voices of all the people the nightmares had taken away. She still heard them occasionally, even though none of the others knew it, when she'd pass the place Anna had put the "heart" of the beast (which actually turned out to be a blob that really did not like water). And though she was mainly over it now, Anna was still treating her like she still wasn't well enough to take care of herself. Or maybe she was back to treating her like normal; generally the line of concern and babying got blurred pretty easily.

Along with that, the Order was kept busy in trying to find Natheniel. With rumors going around about a young adult sharing his exact appearance, Anna kept everyone on high alert. From what Sharena gathered, Emblian activity had gone down as well—although she didn't really think anything had changed.

"Your orders?" Fauna prompted gently. "The cookies should be done soon and I'd really rather they not burn…"

"I second that!" Sharena agreed, nodding. Mmm, warm cookies…slightly better than normal cookies.

Anna sighed. "Well, by all means, don't let me stop you," she said, unamused. She nodded the two of them off. "We're going to be waiting a while anyway."

…

Sharena had never questioned how many people could comfortably fit in the meeting room at once. It was big, sure, but the large table in the center—with the whole map of Askr with a little bit of the Emblian border—took up a lot of room, too. She eventually lost count of how many Heroes came in. But she recognized them all, despite not actually knowing all of their names. Fauna greeted each of them, spending a couple minutes on trying to figure out the names of a few. Sharena wondered if she should be doing that.

"Listen up." Anna's voice cut through the idle chatter. Everyone turned their attention to the commander. "Twenty of you are going out scouting. That kid's still at large, and it sounds like he's getting closer to here. Your mission would be to find him before he finds us and figure out what he wants. Four of you are going to try and see if you can get any kind of lead on Embla's plans. They've been too quiet and the border's being carefully guarded—more so than usual. That being said, if there's not a safe way in then come back. The rest of you are in charge of training up the new recruits. Fauna will go make more cookies or something." She waited for everyone to share a collective nod. "Anyone have any preferences before I assign a job for you?"

Anna usually gave the Heroes different options; they weren't guaranteed the role they wanted if more than the amount of people she was sending out offered, but it gave a sense of "you've got a choice" which was, from what Sharena guessed, an important part of getting people to listen to you. Not like much people really listened to Sharena no matter if she gave them choices or not; normally she was answered with "no" even if that wasn't an option.

As the others talked to Anna, Sharena stayed silent and where she was. She knew Anna probably already had something in mind for her to do anyway, so placing in the suggestion for something else would be practically useless.

After a couple minutes, Anna called out who was doing what. Each Hero left once they were given their instructions. But of course she used their full titles (why? Why did there need to be both Lucina: Glorious Archer and Lucina: Brave Princess here?) so it took longer. Not to mention Sharena was last on that list—even Fauna got to leave before her. Did Anna know she wanted another cookie? Was she trying to keep her from them so then she won't possibly maybe eat them all?

When just the two of them were in the room, Anna dropped her serious tone. "I'm guessing I don't have to call you Princess Sharena for you to know I'm talking to you."

Sharena nodded. She began walking out the door.

"I'm still not done with you."

She couldn't stop herself from moaning. "All the cookies are gonna be gone by the time I get there!"

Anna didn't look amused. "You know that at least half of everything in that pantry is stuff to make cookies, right? With, like, another fourth devoted completely to cupcakes."

"But Fauna worked so hard on them," Sharena pointed out. She probably shouldn't be pressing her luck, but she was anyway. "It'll be a shame if I only get one."

Immediately she realized she probably shouldn't have said that. Anna definitely was not in the mood for jokes. "Just tell me what the hell Alfonse thinks he's doing and you can go back to eat all the damn cookies you want." Anna must really not be happy if she was cursing directly at Sharena.

"Alright, alright!" She took a deep breath. Anna wasn't going to like this. "I don't know." All she knew was that it had something to do with the letters he'd been placing at that tree, but that was more of a guess since he never really answered her. And from the way he told her to keep it between the two of them, that little detail wasn't something he wanted Anna to know.

"Fine," Anna sighed. She gestured towards the door. "If you eat more than six cookies you aren't having any more from the next three batches."

Sharena smiled and went out the door.

(A/N: wow, Anna is...not happy. Then again if I were her in what should really be called "Screw You, Anna: The Kind-of-Series" then I'd probably be, too... I mean, have you read how often they ignore her?

I'm practically dissing my own story at this point. But I do pull out an explanation for it later so I guess it's all good?)


	3. Chapter 3- Tea Time

{-Alfonse-}

He really didn't want to be doing this. He already regretted it and he'd only been sitting here for five minutes. The amount of time it took Henriette to decide if she wanted another sugar cube or not was excruciatingly long.

Alfonse had spent a couple hours at the library looking through the records. It seemed like all Emblian activity suddenly stopped about nineteen years ago, besides merchants (which, not surprising but definitely interesting, half were marked as "Anna" under the name column; though the name disappeared entirely around eight years ago). There was also the possibility Zacharias's mother had used an alias and claimed herself a merchant, or that she got smuggled in somehow. But, having gotten everything he could from the records, he'd resorted to his, regrettably, second best bet.

Though at the moment he was beginning to think he'd had better luck speaking with his father.

Henriette sipped a bit of her tea, flashing him a smile. "You've got perfect timing. I don't even think I remember the last time we had tea together. Wouldn't it be lovely if Sharena could've been here, too? She's doing well, right? Oh, and what was with her lack of letters a few months ago? I was beginning to think the two of you thought you were getting too old to be associated with your mother anymore. I tried asking her about it but she completely ignored me. That's not like her at all." She took another sip. Then she kept talking. "Also, I'm still waiting to meet Fauna. I want to make sure my kids have good company. Really I'm starting to wonder if maybe you don't want me to meet her? Are you friends with a bad girl, Alfonse? It's okay if you are, but I'd like an answer. I won't be mad, promise."

It took him several moments to evaluate her questions and then a few more to find a way to answer them all. "Yes, Sharena's fine. We got really busy for a while so she didn't really have much time to write and send letters, that's all." He knew the exact timeframe she was referring to, but he kept it vague to honor their general agreement of let's-pretend-like-it-never-happened. Not to mention Henriette would probably not like what happened in the slightest. "And no. Fauna is pretty much the exact opposite of a 'bad girl.' She's been waiting for an opportunity to meet you, things just keep getting in the way."

"You know I've seen her coming out of the castle a couple of times," Henriette pointed out. "It wouldn't be too hard to pop by our room, would it?"

It would, actually, because their father would be in there. But Alfonse didn't say that. He chose to continue on with the reason he was here. "I didn't actually come here to have an idle chat and tea with you, Mother," he admitted. "I came with a question."

"Just like your father," she sighed. "You only come to me when there's something you want. Yes, dear? I'm listening and I'll try to help the best I can."

"You…wouldn't happen to remember a visitor that came here over eight years ago, would you?" He almost wished he hadn't been studying at all the possible times a guest could've come. Then this whole afternoon could've been over by now. Alfonse realized he didn't actually know the exact time. "May or may not have come across the border..?"

Henriette thought for a moment, sipping up more of her tea. "There was, actually. An old friend of ours." That couldn't be the same person he was hoping it would be. "Your father wasn't very happy to see her in Askr, though. I didn't have time to ask her how her son was doing before she left." Okay, now this might be the same person. "Why? Are you doing some kind of report?"

"Er…I guess you could say that," Alfonse said. "Can you tell me a bit more about her?" If he could just make sure this was the right person, he could get to the question he really wanted to ask. At least this gave him enough time to figure out how he was going to say it.

"She'd always been interested in her family," Henriette continued wistfully. "They meant the world to her. She had a son not much older than you, actually. And, well, I think you've met her daughter." She frowned a little, like what she normally did when she was reminded of something she did't like. "The Emblian Princess, I mean."

Alfonse's moment of victory was extinguished by confusion. "Wait, you used to personally know the Emblian royal family?" It made sense, but the idea of them being close and then raging war anyway didn't make much sense.

Henriette smiled. "Of course! We'd go on double dates all the time before you were born. When we found out I was pregnant with you, we joked a bit about if the two kids would fall in love with each other. Then you turned out to be a boy, too." Wow, she was making him very confident that she wouldn't disown him when he finally actually told her. "You know, I didn't think we'd ever not be friends. But then, well…your grandfather died in the hands of…ahem…her…after a lengthy battle with death. To put salt on the wound, Embla turned out to be lying about the portals. You should know what happened after that."

He didn't think he'd ever seen his mother try so hard to avoid something. She didn't look at him until she'd finished. And he had a feeling from the way she said it "battle with death" meant more than it might seem. It only left him more confused and mildly curious as to what it really was.

"So, when you saw her again, do you remember what she told you?" He really hoped she'd know something.

She shook her head. "That's something you'll have to ask your father. I wasn't there—Sharena needed me and by the time I got back I'd just missed her. I'm sorry."

"Dammit," he sighed. Alfonse then realized what he said, and the unhappy look his mother was giving him. "I didn't say what you thought I did..?"

"No, I'm pretty sure of what I heard," Henriette remarked dully. "But you're an adult now."

Alfonse got up, knowing it was his time to leave. "Thank you for your time, Mother."

Henriette waved goodbye. "It might not exactly help, but remember where we went for that new year's party? I know they know a lot about that kind of stuff; maybe one of them might be able to help you a bit more."

He nodded.

(A/N: HENRIETTE, STOP MAKING ALFONSE WISH HE WASN'T GAY. Just stop.

Also, what a fine time to mention that, in this AU, only Book I is 100% canon. Part of Book III probably will, but I'm not quite sure as of writing this.)


	4. Chapter 4- Fateful Encounter

{-Sharena-}

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. Since she wasn't technically actually assigned anything, Sharena just trained with the Heroes. It was pretty fun most of the time. She even forced herself not to get a sixth cookie (even though Anna told her she could have six and thus she was totally allowed to get one more). Once she brought back some for the others and spent a couple minutes explaining to one of the older Heroes—who apparently knew she had a limit on how many cookies Anna let her have in a day—that the thirteen cookies weren't all for her.

At sundown she began finding Fauna.

"How do you think we can fix this problem?" Fauna was standing between two Heroes. "No, killing each other is not one of those solutions." The Heroes looked at each other with the most dumbfounded, confused expressions ever.

Sharena waved. "Hey, Fauna! You almost ready?"

Fauna glanced over at her. "Not in the slightest. Can you go on ahead and I'll catch up with you?"

"It's kind of far away and you have no idea where you're going," Sharena answered with a sigh.

"Then can you give me ten minutes?"

"Fine, but if we miss it then it's on you."

Seeming pleased, Fauna turned back to the Heroes. Sharena, figuring it was going to take Fauna more than ten minutes, wandered to her room and changed into more casual clothing. She met up with Fauna at the castle's gate.

"Can I ask where we're going?" Fauna followed closely behind Sharena.

"It's a secret," Sharena sang playfully. "But you can try guessing if you want!"

"Wait, should I be concerned?" Fauna asked carefully. "You and secrets don't mix well. Last time you told me that, you led me to loud noises and the sky started doing weird stuff."

Sharena laughed. "They're called fireworks, you know. And there's nothing to be concerned about! I just needed a tag-along and Alfonse is apparently doing something else so you're my next best substitute."

"If this is supposed to be giving me the warm and fuzzies then it isn't working…"

"Fauna, nothing new gives you the warm and fuzzies."

"That's not true. There's…um…"

"If you need to think about it then I'm probably right."

They walked for a while longer. They reached their destination, and Sharena waved Fauna through the entrance.

Fauna looked around, awed by the candlelit streets and soft music. "It's kinda like my old village."

"That was not my intention at all," Sharena admitted. "Me and Zacharias used to go here all the time between lessons. Alfonse has been here a couple times before, but he never liked it; I don't even think Anna knows this place exists." She shrugged. "I like visiting when I can. Now, come on. You haven't even seen the best thing yet!"

Sharena led Fauna to the center of the village. The music was louder here, accompanied by dancing. They weaved past until they got to a fountain. Flower petals and candles floated in the water, giving the area a peaceful feeling. She sat down at the edge and gestured for Fauna to sit beside her.

"Askr keeps getting prettier the longer I'm here," Fauna breathed. "It's quickly becoming a second home, thanks to you guys." Fauna, being a Hero, was from a world other than Askr; she never really said which one it was, though, and none of them pushed for an answer. After spending over a year here, it was good to hear she was considering it home.

"I pride myself in making sure all Heroes are comfortable here," Sharena pointed out. "That's practically my one consistent role besides dragging Alfonse around." She guessed some political person would find a way to claim it as something she was "required" to do as the princess of Askr. But if she was required to do it, she probably either wouldn't be doing it or wouldn't enjoy it.

"It's kind of weird that…almost everything I know about him comes from you," Fauna said quietly.

It took a minute to realize who she was referring to. "Well, I'm the only one who'd talk about it." Sharena brushed her hand against the water, looking at her contorted reflection in the candlelight. "We were all close and he spent a lot of time with each of us. Alfonse avoids the subject whenever it comes up and honestly I don't blame him for it. Anna only talks about him now like he purposely meant to do those things. I just feel bad because you landed right in the middle of it."

Someone walked up to them, startling her. It wasn't hard to recognize him as the person Anna had been looking for—Natheniel. "Excuse me, ladies, but I think you're who I've been trying to find."

"Really? Who are they?" Fauna sounded a lot calmer than she probably was. Sharena, personally, felt both victorious at finding him and the sinking feeling of oh-gods-we're-screwed—though she wasn't quite sure why.

"Fauna and Princess Sharena," he answered simply. "Which I believe are the two of you. You see, I think I screwed something up so I'm going to try to fix it and so far I've only succeeded in getting lost." He shot them an innocent smile.

She knew he didn't want to hurt them. But she kept fighting the urge to run off anyway, recognizing the feeling of some kind of danger he gave her. The girls exchanged wary looks before turning back to their visitor.

"How did you get lost if you used to live in a version of Askr?" Sharena asked dryly. "Unless it's really different than here."

"I got dropped off at a weird spot," he replied, seemingly not noticing her tone. "Spent a while wandering for a bit and avoiding the Heroes. Hey, did I leave a bad impression on you guys? You don't have to look so hostile. I'm here to help, really."

Fauna leaned closer to Sharena. "How about we just bring him back to the castle and let Anna take care of it?"

"That would be great but, uh…" Sharena sighed. "Don't freak out, but she doesn't know we're here. I told her we were going home. And we would've already been there by now, so saying we found him on the way there wouldn't make sense." She really had planned that, when they were done, they'd go to the royal castle; it was closer, and they also wouldn't need to explain why they were gone for a few hours and came back from the opposite direction of the stargazing hill.

"Then you'll just have to tell her we had a change of plans," Fauna suggested. "I really thought for a moment the two of you were actually being honest with each other."

"Oh, that never happens," Natheniel cut in. "Neither of them told the other anything so the other only returned it by telling them even less." He was so matter-of-fact as he stated it that it just seemed weird.

Fauna frowned, getting up. "Here I thought a six-year-old's communication skills were lacking," she muttered. "We'll go back to Anna. And I am not talking for you."

(A/N: Just a reminder that Fauna _never_ calls Zacharias by name. It is not an understatement to say she was literally his replacement. Poor Fauna.)


	5. Chapter 5- Another's Past

{-Fauna-}

The village had been a pleasant surprise. It was nice and she really hadn't been lying when she said it reminded her of home…the home she'd been forced out of over a year ago, going from crying kids to a bunch of (or nearly, in some cases) adults that certainly acted like kids sometimes. At least she was getting more comfortable around people older than her.

Fauna watched by the door as Sharena explained the events of the past few hours to Anna. Natheniel was sitting on the floor on the opposite side of the wall from Fauna, looking bored and almost like he was about to fall asleep.

She was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to be paying the most attention to the spilled ink on the table in the corner of the room. In her defense, it was poorly cleaned up and a bit of it was still dripping off the edge. It was distracting to say the least.

"…we came back here," Sharena finished.

"Good work, both of you." Anna nodded to Sharena. "I've got errands for you to take care of tomorrow. Get some rest and report back in the morning."

Sharena left wordlessly, closing the door behind her.

Fauna allowed a moment of silence before glancing at Anna. "You just wanted her out of the way, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Anna replied simply. "When you're with them for six years, you learn they work better and think clearer when they're distracted from the actual problem." Fauna knew that "they" referred to both Sharena and Alfonse.

"So, are you going to question me, or..?" Natheniel asked, confirming his presence. "I didn't come all this way to just sit here. Though I did miss hearing you guys argue. It's a familiar comfort. Well, it's a comfort because it's familiar but really it's a bit—"

"Alright, that's enough out of you for the time being." Anna glared at him, but addressed Fauna next. "On the far end of the hall and up the stairs there's a spare room. Can I trust you with taking him there without getting lost?"

"If she does get lost, I know where it is," Natheniel informed them. "It's where Tavin slept when he was helping out a lot."

Both of them looked at him with confused expressions.

"Er, right, he doesn't exist yet. Unlike me, though, he probably will." Natheniel shrugged, getting up. "You'll figure it out eventually. Whether because I tell you or it happens. Can we go?"

"Wait for me outside," Fauna instructed. "I'll be out in a minute." She watched him leave before turning her attention to Anna. "Do I need to—"

Anna frowned. "You don't even need to finish your sentence," she answered. "Look, I've just got to call back the scouts, sort through the stack of letters, and make up a list of stuff for Sharena to do tomorrow."

"Fine, but if I'm up in the middle of the night and you're still in here then…I don't know what I'd do but it won't be nothing."

"Save your worrying for someone who needs it. Gods, weren't you there when I told Alfonse that? Believe me, I've dealt with worse. Just take Natheniel to his room and go to sleep."

…

The next morning, Fauna woke up Natheniel—bringing him a clean change of clothes, as well. She waited in the hallway for him.

He came out a couple minutes later. "You're allowed to call me Nathen, you know."

"W-what?"

"My world's version of you called me that," Natheniel explained. They began walking. "It's the name of one of you're adoptive siblings, right? There was a reason you liked that name but I could never remember why."

She nodded. "Nathen and Alex." Nathen had been seven when Fauna came to Askr. Alex, however, was just barely a year old. Fauna took care of both of them up until the moment she left. She couldn't help but wonder how they were doing without her. "Them and Ethen…they were my world."

"Sounds like something she'd say," he remarked with a smile. "My Fauna never reunited with her family…but I hope you can. I mean, there's a world for every possibility, right? That's what my guardians used to tell me, anyway."

They entered the room they were in the night before, and Anna was waiting. Thankfully, she looked like she'd slept at some point even if she didn't exactly look well-rested.

"Care to tell us more?" she prompted calmly.

"About my guardians? Well…they were the six of you." Natheniel walked over to the wall, casually leaning against it. "You, Fauna, Alfonse, Sharena, Zacharias, and Veronica. I thought that might've been one of yours by blood, but none of you ever told me anything and I gave up on asking—that was before I found out the truth, though. You all had a considerable role in raising me. I'm told neither of us would've made it very long if not for Fauna."

"That makes sense," Anna remarked. "Babies suck."

"They're not that bad!" Fauna protested firmly. "They just lack the proper skills to properly express their needs." She bit back her urge to add, "you know, the skills you and Sharena have but refuse to use most of the time."

Anna paused. "Wait, neither of you?"

"Me and Tavin," Natheniel answered. "Technically, he had his mother but Fauna was still a big help. So I was told. Oh! I probably should've told you this before, we're both technically princes. Only Tavin is actually an heir to a throne, though—it's kind of his reason for existing; he's the Askran prince. I'm considered the first child born under the reunion of Askr and Embla, although I'm not really much more important than that."

"Dear gods this is like the freaking kids from the World of Awakening but worse," Anna moaned.

Fauna thought for a moment. "Askran prince…who was his mother, then?" She ruled out Sharena on the spot. Unless she drastically matured in whatever time difference there was between their time and Natheniel's, there was no way she'd be in any way anything but the super-fun-mom.

"A very understanding woman." Natheniel moved a little. "At that point, Alfonse had already been married to his love for three years. Askr needed an actual prince who could keep tradition alive. So, he came to an old friend of his and she agreed to bear the child. Right up until the end, she was given everything but the title of queen and the amorous love of the king. But neither her or her son could fight to save their life…she died in a brutal massacre because of me."

(A/N: finally, Fauna's family is mentioned. Basically everyone important to her is mentioned in this chapter. This is just about the only time she's referred to as "adopted."

Natheniel got so much character developement once I made Tavin exist; he went from being a mildly disobedient only-child to the annoying half-brother—that is, nice to the adults, generally a jerk to younger kids.)


	6. Chapter 6- Enn

{-Alfonse-}

He spent the night at the royal castle, and headed out in the morning. Although it took less time than he thought to get lost, since he remembered a bit too late that he actually had no idea where he was going.

"No, Feathers, we aren't going up!"

Alfonse stopped. That was coming from above him.

"FEATHERS, WE'RE GOING DOWN THIS INSTANT OR ELSE I'M NOT GIVING YOU A SUGAR CUBE WHEN WE GET BACK HOME!"

The only response was a whinny, followed by a girl seemingly falling out of the sky.

"I said WE not ME, Feathers!" She pulled a feather out of her hair. "'You'll be good with pegasi,' she says, 'you never like staying on the ground anyway.' WELL GUESS WHAT, ELLIE, ANIMALS HATE ME."

Alfonse walked over to her, reaching his hand out. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. It's not the first time I've been thrown off midair." She got up and brushed off her skirt.

Having a closer look at her, he realized her lack of modest clothing. From the short skirt to the shirt that just barely seemed to cover what it was supposed to, enough of her mocha-colored skin was showing to make him feel uncomfortable.

"It's black not blue," she stated. At his confused expression, she shrugged. "A lot of people ask me if my hair's black or blue. It's black. It just looks blue in certain lighting." She stepped back to observe him. Realization flashed across her face. "HEY, I KNOW YOU! You're Sharena's brother, right?"

Well, that was a new one. Alfonse had been called plenty of things in his lifetime, but "Sharena's brother" was never one of those. "What? I—I mean, yes, but—"

She gasped. "SHARENA NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT ME?! We saw each other at the party my parents threw a few months back! Remember? I was sitting by Dad when you two came to talk to the Anna that had been listening to Dad's stories all night."

This felt exactly like when someone would walk up to him and start talking to him like they'd known each other for years, ask how they knew him, and to be answered with "I visited you and your mother all the time when you were little!" as if he was supposed to remember everything from the moment he was born to the current day. More often than not, though, Sharena seemed to know whoever they were and continued on the conversation on his behalf.

"I know what you're talking about but I'm sorry to say I don't know who you are."

"Not even Ellie? She's, like, three times better than me at everything. You can't tell me Sharena's never even mentioned us once?"

He shook his head.

"Damn. Really thought I'd made an impression on her. I mean, she smiled in my direction! She got along better with my own pegasus than I do!" She shook her head and put her hand out. "Anyways, I guess we need to introduce ourselves! It's not my real name and Mom hates it when I ask people to call me this, but you can call me Enn. You're, uh…let me guess…um… Alfredo?"

"Alfonse," he corrected. It only felt odder since he had the feeling that she honestly did not know his name and did not just say that to annoy him.

"Close enough!" Enn smiled warmly. "So, what brings you so close to our not-so-humble abode? Maybe I could help. I could also put on a coat if you want. I'm told my fashion choices make people uncomfortable, but most guys don't seem to mind though from the way you're focusing on my face I think I'm disturbing you."

"If you want to," Alfonse replied.

"Ooo, fancy." She looked around, walking over to a nearby tree and pulling down a satchel. Enn dug through it, taking out a crimson coat and putting it on. "Hey, if I was about to step in a mud puddle would you take off that dramatic cape of yours and put it on the ground so then I'd step on it instead?"

"Most likely not."

"You're part of the nobility, right?"

"The prince." It was a dull response, much more like a sigh than a proud statement.

"Most people I meet your age and status want to flirt with me. Hell, I've met guys thirty years older than me that Dad thinks I'll 'get along well' with. So I'm just super confused on why you're not like that. I've got another question—would you treat me any differently if I was a guy?"

"I don't think I would."

"I'm starting to like you. I can get why you're so close now. Well, I didn't think you were close at first because she doesn't really talk about you unless someone asks, but at the party I saw you two being cute and sibling-y and I realized you were close." Enn shrugged. "Back to our other line of conversation, what brings you here?"

Alfonse gave her a brief, general idea of what he needed. She looked like she was listening carefully but the way she started bouncing excitedly midway through told him only half of what he was saying was actually being processed.

"I can totally help with that! Kind of! Although I don't actually have an answer, I have this." Enn turned to the satchel, eventually pulling out a map and waving it. "The king came to Dad after a weird lady came to the castle. I dunno exactly what they talked about, but Dad was asked to find out more. He got stumped after a few days. When I turned nineteen a few weeks ago, he gave me the map he found. I've been waiting for a traveling companion for forever since Mom doesn't let me adventure on my own anymore ever since I nearly burned down a village."

He had a feeling he'd end up regretting this eventually. "Will your parents mind, though?" A part of him was still wrapping his head around the fact that she wasn't much younger than him.

She shrugged. "I'll just drop by, tell them I've got a tag-along, and we can go. We won't be gone very long—this map leads someplace that's only a couple days away from here. I guess the real question is if your people would care?"

"They know I'm going to be gone awhile; it's fine." Well, Sharena knew. And really she was the only one he was really concerned about. "Shall I wait here for you, then?"

"It shouldn't take me very long, and if it does I probably got grounded. So if I'm not back in thirty minutes, go to the castle and I'll meet you there."

(A/N: you know, you never find out how Enn almost burned a village... she didn't mean to, I swear.

Enn calling Alfonse "Alfredo" was actually something me and a friend came up with when we probably really needed to go to sleep. At least the first three letters are right? And there's an o and e in both..?)


	7. Chapter 7- The Old Order

{-Sharena-}

Most of Sharena's morning was spent trying to figure out how Anna thought she was strong enough to lug sacks of horse feed around the castle—or maybe just why it was on the literal opposite side of the castle from the actual horse stalls. The horses seemed happy to be fed, though. Feh tried getting into it, but she was firmly redirected to the bird feeder. Which was apparently empty so Sharena filled that up, too. Proud of herself, she got a cookie and turned to her next task.

At first glance, she thought the list was pretty short and she'd be able to get it done quickly. But she'd realized with closer inspection that Anna really had thought out what would take Sharena the most time to accomplish without making it seem like a daunting list of chores.

She was passing by the library when a white blur caught her attention. She debated for a moment whether or not to go in and find out who it was or continue on with her task. Knowing it probably didn't matter how long it took her to finish the list, she gave in to her curiosity.

The library had always seemed empty to her. Most of the shelves were only half full, all of the books in plain sight coming from the royal castle's library (mainly reprints, but there was a few originals) and having to do with one thing or another about Askr. History, important people, maps, the occasional blurb about Embla here and there… It was obvious that it was meant for the Heroes. Further back by one of Feh's many perches was a door that was almost always locked. Inside was where the books about the Heroes and their worlds were; tucked away so then no one could peak in and figure out if they died in the end or not (at least that's how Sharena always saw it—Alfonse and Anna used a lot more serious, big-worded explanations).

And that's where the white was heading.

Looking closer, she recognized the Summoner's cloak. Immediately that just left her more confused as she watched her unlock the door.

Sharena followed her in. "Should you be in here? I mean, you're from one of these worlds I think, so…"

"Anna asked me to," Fauna answered with a sigh. "Though I think she just wanted me out of the room."

"Did she tell you to put on your cloak, too?"

To just about everyone who knew Fauna, they knew one part of her. Sharena couldn't remember the exact reason, but from the very beginning, Fauna was restricted to one person or the other. When her cloak was on, her hood stayed up and she was just the Summoner. When it was off, she just seemed like any other Hero. Most of the time she didn't have her cloak on, but at times where her title as Summoner was actually important, she had it on. It had something to do with how their enemies could connect the dots and hurt her—since she often went to nearby villages just to walk around, sometimes without anyone else with her depending on how generous Anna was feeling that day.

"Apparently it's less obvious for the Summoner to be doing this." Fauna shrugged. "But, uh… I'm short and this library doesn't have any stools I could borrow; can you reach up there and get 'Members of the Order' down for me?"

Sharena nodded. "Why does she need this..? It's not even up-to-date." She only knew that because she'd seen its much newer replacement whenever Fauna summoned a new Hero. Either way, she grabbed a thick, practically-falling-apart book from the shelf.

"Natheniel talked about it, said that there's something 'interesting' in it. Anna didn't believe him but she sent me to look anyway." She took the book from Sharena, almost dropping it.

"Should I have warned you that it was heavy..?"

"How did you even take this off the shelf with one hand?!" Fauna turned around and promptly set it on a desk in the center of the room. She opened the book up and began leafing through the pages. "Why are so many of these names crossed out..?"

"Congratulations, looks like you've found the record of every dead member of the Order of Heroes," Sharena said with false enthusiasm. "More or less. Only about ten of them are still alive."

Fauna was silent, flipping the pages slower. "W-what happened?"

Sharena sighed. "We used to go to the different worlds and recruit Heroes. They weren't bound to us by anything, and if something happened to them then there wasn't any easy way to get them back. We lost a lot of good friends along the way; Veronica didn't exactly hide how much she wanted us dead. When Zacharias left, many of the Heroes that were left called it quits—everyone else put all their energy into finding Breidablik." She was pretty sure she only pronounced that right because of how many times Anna had said it. "Suffice to say, only a handful lived that long and even fewer are still here now. I'm confident it's another reason why she doesn't talk fondly of him anymore."

"I heard about that from the Heroes," Fauna remarked quietly. "But no one ever said what actually happened…I assumed it wasn't anything important. This makes so much more sense. Figures you're the one to tell me, though."

"Not exactly the Order's finest moment. And you know she likes keeping those kinds of things between us."

"Between the three of you, you mean."

"Well, if we're being completely honest here, it's closer to two."

"Anyway…" Fauna turned to Sharena. "You're apparently stronger than me, so can I ask you one more favor?"

"After dragging horse feed around all morning, a book isn't that bad." She took it and nodded to the door. "Can you tell me what I missed while we walk?"

Fauna started out the door, Sharena following close behind her. "I have a feeling there's no way I'm convincing you against it, so sure."

(A/N: finally, the thing with Fauna and the Summoner's cloak is confirmed. Also I shamelessly admit to copy and pasting Breidablik because I knew I wouldn't spell it right on my own.

As some of you might have noticed, this chapter and an author's note in Controlled by Fate kind of contradict each other. Suffice to say, I gave the idea some thought and realized it actaully sounded pretty reasonable, most things considered.)


	8. Chapter 8- Misunderstanding

Anna greeted the two of them by waving them in. Natheniel, who was now leaning against the wall opposite to Anna, smiled in their direction. They resumed their positions from last night.

Sharena spoke before Anna could. "Yes, I fed the horses. No, I'm not leaving."

"Didn't expect anything else," Anna sighed.

Natheniel took the book from Sharena and began flipping through the pages. He stopped midway through the book, turned it around so the others could see, and, with a bit of effort, pointed to a note. "I believe you'll find this familiar, Commander?"

Anna read it over. She walked over to a stack of papers, shuffled through them, and pulled out another note. "These are exactly the same." She didn't really give the others a chance to compare, but her expression was enough to tell that she was telling the truth.

"I wrote them both," Natheniel admitted proudly. "One of them was back from my world and the other I wrote last night. As you might have noticed, one looks a bit older than the other." He paused, closed the book, set it aside, and smiled thoughtfully. "Much like the picture of the three of you."

Sharena knew what he was talking about, and he wasn't really referring to all three girls in the room. Just one of them—her.

Along with the picture Natheniel had with the seven (Alfonse, Sharena, Anna, Fauna, Zacharias, Veronica, and a toddler Natheniel; his world's version of the group) of them, there was one other that Sharena never actually saw, but instead was told about later. It was an old, faded copy of something that existed in their own world: a picture of Alfonse, Sharena, and Zacharias shortly before they joined the Order.

"One of them was something I left for my guardians," Natheniel continued. "That's the one you found in your bag, Fauna, and the one Anna's holding right now. The one in the book was written by me about ten hours ago. 'Answers are hard to find in a mess of secrets and lies. But one thing's clear: I'm sorry for everything I'll do.' It was a pretty heartfelt and sincere apology, you know."

Anna frowned. "Well, it certainly didn't sound like it."

"The way you said 'I will do' instead of 'I have done' is kinda unsettling," Fauna agreed.

Natheniel sighed. "Leaving…caused a lot of problems for them. I didn't realize what it would mean for me to disappear from their world—not until it was already done. I'd become a part of that world; if they'd killed me the moment they found me, they could've continued on with their lives as if nothing had ever happened. They knew the risks and responsibilities they'd take by raising me, yet they did it anyway. Even after I accidentally killed thousands of men, women, children…killed Tavin's mother…hurt Tavin and Philyra…they all still loved me as much as they did the moment I turned six. Except for Veronica, I think she honestly hated my guts in the end. But, really, it's questionable if she ever liked me at all." He shook his head woefully. "You've all given me so much…and I returned that with making your lives hell."

"My life's already hell most of the time, so…" Anna remarked.

Sharena was lost at Tavin and Philyra. Fauna hadn't told her about either of them. "I've got a dumb question," she warned. Wow, she sounded like a five-year-old. "Who's Tavin and Philyra, again?"

"Right, you weren't there." Natheniel shrugged a little. "Tavin is Alfonse's son, and the heir to the Askran throne. Philyra is Veronica's daughter, and the heir to the Emblian throne. They're pretty close and are more like siblings than cousins."

"WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT. ALFONSE HAD A KID?!" She immediately looked at Fauna with a betrayed expression. "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ALFONSE HAD A KID!"

"Gods, you don't have to tell the whole castle," Anna muttered. She walked over to the door. "Don't do anything overly important; I need to go make sure none of the Heroes heard that."

Sharena chuckled sheepishly. "Oh…sorry." With the amount of Heroes here, it wasn't hard to guess that at least a few of them were known for spreading rumors. She could definitely confirm that they did, in fact, exist. Over time and from the advice of others, she learned to be careful about what she said around them to limit what came back.

Anna mumbled something as she left the room.

Natheniel seemed amused, though. "You never changed. I was told you said something similar when you met her. Together, you and Zacharias made up the 'Sharena's Approval Test' and 'Zacharias's Test of Approval.' I think they were eventually dubbed the 'Save Alfonse's Fragile Heart: Exams For Family Acceptance.'"

"That sounds totally accurate," Sharena said, nodding. Anyone who wanted any significant importance in her brother's life had to go through her first, and the moment she finds out he wasn't happy, she'd be dragging him away from the situation he probably wouldn't have left by himself. At least, she was pretty sure she'd do that—Alfonse didn't exactly expand his friend circle very often. Or…at all.

"I'm still stuck on the part where Veronica had a daughter," Fauna admitted. "She doesn't exactly seem like the, um…motherly type."

"The people needed a proper heir," Natheniel replied. "Like Alfonse, she had a child in answer to the requests from her subjects. You actually stayed with her in Embla from the moment she confirmed her pregnancy to the time Philyra was about a year old." He paused. "It's probably hard for you guys to grasp. Believe me, though, Veronica might've given up fighting, but she was definitely a momma bear. Anyone who even so much as thought about hurting Philyra was seen as a threat to her. I, uh, kinda got kicked out of Embla a few weeks before I left because I did that."

"W-what?" Fauna stepped back a little.

"No, no, not on purpose!" Natheniel defended quickly. "She's a sweet kid when she wasn't telling on me; she didn't deserve it. It wasn't even meant for her! Tavin was supposed to get out of the way and she wasn't supposed to jump in there. It wasn't—I wasn't thinking—and—and—" He stopped, staring at both of them with a hopeless expression. "Neither of you believe me. Just like when I did it. They never asked for my side of the story…they didn't trust me. But that's going to change. You're going to hear the truth. Not what Tavin told them. Not what they gathered from Philyra. Just me. Anna needs to get back, though, this is kind of important."

They waited for a while. About an hour of awkward tension, Anna came back. She was informed on what had happened, and Natheniel began his story.

(A/N: There really wasn't any reason for Anna to leave the room.

Fun fact: in an alternative universe, Natheniel's note was the beginning of Disney's Frozen's 'Let it Go.' This is why you don't let half-asleep people write.)


	9. Chapter 9- Memory Matters

{-Natheniel-}

He couldn't forget the last few weeks he spent with his family. It wasn't the happy kind of never forget.

The rustling of the leaves in the breeze was second only to the sound of talking. Sitting in the mid-autumn sunlight were Natheniel, Tavin, and Philyra. They were upholding a idle conversation while Natheniel practiced his sword swings. Veronica and Xander were watching the children, whispering things to each other that Natheniel couldn't help but feel like were directed towards him.

He barely noticed when an Emblian guard came. "Empress Veronica," he said ominously. "If I may have a word."

"Of course." Veronica turned and glanced at the kids. "I'll just be around the corner. Should you need anything, we won't be far." He was pretty sure she was looking at him as she said this.

"Okay, Mother!" Philyra waved, smiling.

Tavin nodded in agreement.

Natheniel didn't do anything besides swing his sword again.

"Your form is off," Xander informed him casually. "One misstep and you might cut someone with that thing." Everyone in Embla loved saying how wrong his form was. But soon the Hero disappeared in the same direction as Veronica.

Tavin walked up to Natheniel, pulling his sword out of his hands. "You won't be needing this now," he said as he tossed it aside. "Maybe we can actually talk like normal people?"

"Hey!" Natheniel tried to get it, but Tavin was quicker. He stepped in front of him, pushing the sword further away with his foot.

He gave him the dullest look. "Not today, Dreamer. Get that damn head of yours out of the clouds." Tavin had enjoyed using "damn" to help describe Natheniel since he turned fifteen and his father allowed him to say it (or, more accurately, he said it once and no one corrected him). He never really said it around Philyra, though, who was almost twelve.

"Can't I practice?" Natheniel had to admit, he didn't feel as confident with a sword as he did with magic. He wanted to be amazing for his final exam a few months from now.

"At home," Tavin began in his a-lecture-is-coming-up voice. "But not here. We're supposed to be enjoying ourselves. Remember we're here for Philyra's birthday not so then Xander can tell you things you already know."

"Easy for you to say!" Natheniel shot back bitterly. "The others are off fighting—"

"—to fix something YOU screwed up." Tavin finished matter-of-factly. A very fine moment to push up his glasses, if he had any. "I know you, Natheniel. Better than you know yourself. I'll be the first to tell you that whoever you think you are, you aren't. And I wish I could be there to see you realize that, but when you do, all of us would be dead. Because of you."

Philyra shuffled uncomfortably. "Tavin, maybe not now…"

Tavin's expression was completely unreadable. He really wasn't happy. "Philyra, please stay out of this." He addressed her in a cold manner. "I don't want you getting hurt."

"You don't know me at all." If anything, Natheniel should be the one that knew everything about Tavin. He'd lived with the know-it-all all the younger's life. Natheniel knew, for instance, where Tavin's favorite book was, who the author was, and what his fixation three years ago was—it had been dragons, and clearly annoyed Veronica by his constant questions about the dragon god Embla.

"I know a part of you that you don't even know exists," Tavin stated. "I know who your birth parents are. And I'll give you a hint, they aren't alive. I've known the answer to the biggest doubt you've ever had in your mind. But, unlike you, I keep my promises. Joining the Order wasn't the only thing I did before you."

"Shut up."

Tavin continued as if he'd said nothing. "You and I always thought differently. You blindly believed whatever they told you, and 'accepted' it; that you're a 'special kid.' I, on the other hand, knew better than to believe what I was told without the proper research to back it up. Not only did I find information about it, but I was told what you are. Too bad we'll die when you know it, too."

Natheniel had stopped listening. He felt like he stopped thinking, too.

In a swift movement, he tripped Tavin. Before Tavin could respond, Natheniel dove for his sword. A moment later, the thing that pulled him out of his trance was a high-pitched cry.

He couldn't believe what he'd just done.

Philyra was sprawled in Tavin's arms. A long cut stretched from her left shoulder to the right side of her waist. She was still breathing, but she was clearly in pain. Her hand kept clasping Tavin's, as if the thought the constant motion might keep her conscious despite her blood loss.

"Look what you've done." Tavin didn't even look at Natheniel. "You're exactly what they said you were. A monster."

"M-Mother…" Philyra wheezed.

"Save your breath," Tavin advised her. She nodded weakly. "Natheniel, get help. NOW."

For a second, Natheniel thought he might be able to get help and actually have credit taken for his side of the story. He turned out to be very, very wrong.

Veronica, Xander, at least ten guards, and—the most "gods I'm in trouble" of them all—Zacharias had already heard the cry. Natheniel found himself cursing. He might've been able to get away with it if Zacharias hadn't come (just when did he show up anyway?).

Veronica took one look at each of their faces and her daughter's bleeding chest. She was by Philyra's side immediately. Speaking over her shoulder, she ordered, "Someone get a healer."

Two guards nodded and left. Another guard pulled something out and handed it to Zacharias. One thing Natheniel learned from his time at the Emblian palace: every guard at a first-aid kit on them at all times, though Zacharias was usually the only one with enough experience to use it. He also knew there was an old woman who oversaw the well-being of the royal family. She was probably hobbling over here now.

Zacharias took it and went over beside Philyra. He whispered some things to her and began trying to slow her bleeding. "Natheniel, start packing up your things." He sounded disappointed. "It's time you went back home."

(A/N: I don't know who was being a jerk first—Natheniel or Tavin. It's bugging me.

There's also so much of both Tavin and Philyra's personalities that will never be described because this is the only thing they're ever in...

And I guess after having a ruler who literally not feel pain for, like, over twenty years you gain a brother that knows how to do stuff like that and everyone is stocked with first-aid kits. The only thing you all need to understand is that certainly isn't the case in the current—past?—Embla.)


	10. Chapter 10- Bonding!

{-Alfonse-}

He was really starting to reconsider his choices.

While he would appreciate the silence, Enn didn't seem to and talked nearly on end. He was pretty sure he also saw her pulling more things from her satchel than it could realistically hold. When he asked about it, her only answer was "I have mad packing skills." And, though likely unintentional, she mentioned having a brother around Sharena's age (and that her sister, Ellie, was fifteen) and Alfonse immediately understood why Sharena had never mentioned the family before. He kept it to himself, though, so Enn didn't notice.

Enn started walking backwards in order to see him. "Not a talker, huh?"

"Not quite," he answered simply.

"Strong, silent type, then? I can see that. You look pretty dependable. I bet tons of people trust you. Isn't that overwhelming, though? I can't think on something for too long or else it gets really complicated and occasionally depressing—Ellie's the over-thinker, not me—so it's got to be overwhelming, right? Like, what if you make the wrong decision?" Enn stepped around a bush just before she was going to trip on it.

Alfonse shrugged. "I just have to ensure that doesn't happen."

"You are a total downer," Enn remarked bluntly. "I keep getting then losing how you two are close. I know that you're a super awesome, dependable, open-minded kind of guy. But you're also really quiet and secretive and I think you take stuff too seriously. Judging from what I heard about you and from, like, my morning of observation, of course."

"When, exactly, was the last time you actually talked to Sharena?" It wasn't exactly his favorite thing to admit, but he could think of a reason in mind for Enn's confusion. "Before the party."

She turned back around. "Hmmmm…well, I got Feathers when I was eleven, that meant Ellie was seven, Sharena's two years older than her, so…about eight years ago? The last time I did, anyway. Her and Queen Henriette visited pretty often so she and Ellie talked a lot, but I wasn't there because I was helping Dad."

"I've found your problem." Alfonse debated for a minute whether he should continue. "Well, why you're confused. A lot's happened in the past few years and we're closer now then we were back then." There. A good portion of it left unexplained, but it was practically useless information to anyone who didn't need the whole story.

"Oh, yeah! That Zacharias kid, right?"

A little shocked, he nodded. She couldn't see him, though, since her back was turned to him once again. "Yeah."

Enn pulled a lollipop from her satchel and waved it around a little. "He was a pretty popular subject for a while in the smaller villages. Him and the…Order of Heroes, I think? I thought they were pretty cool, actually, doing all that stuff with nothing to gain from it. Aren't you and Sharena still there? Admittedly I don't pay as close attention to these sorts of things as I probably should."

"For six years," he confirmed.

"I'm right! I thought so but I didn't know for sure." Enn put the lollipop in her mouth for a bit. She then pulled it out and looked over her shoulder at him disbelievingly. "Wait, six years? That's…a long time."

"It went by quickly," Alfonse said honestly. "A lot of things happened for better or worse, but…I wouldn't change a thing if I was able to." That, though, was a lie. He could think of a few things he wished would've turned out differently, but he knew better than to spend too much time on the past and what couldn't be changed. Didn't exactly stop him from the bit of regretful longing, though.

"Haha! We're bonding! At first, I really thought you didn't like bonding. But here you are! Saying more than a few words! Progress!" She victoriously plopped the lollipop back in her mouth.

"Well…I don't normally do bonding." Though he kind of wished it wasn't the reason, he only got close to Fauna by accident—and out of obligation. He hadn't meant to, and would even admit to being reluctant to it at the beginning, but now that he actually knew her, he couldn't believe he'd thought that; she was sweet and selfless, not to mention well with animals (Feh, especially), and her quirky personality was definitely something the Order had needed.

Enn went back to walking backwards. "Thinking of someone cute?"

"No."

"Oh. Really thought you were doing that face people do when they're thinking of someone cute."

"No, it's just a friend."

"'Just a friend' or just a friend?"

"Just a friend. Someone from the Order."

"Lady friend or guy friend?"

"The first one." He actually felt a little odd to describe Fauna as a "lady friend." What he'd heard it in reference to was nothing like their relationship. They were close and he did like her, but in a purely platonic way. That fact, however, seemed to be ignored from quite a few people who only ever saw the two from a distance.

"Ah, okay. So you really are just friends. I know you're gay. Don't worry, though—your secret's safe with me."

"What?"

"Gay. You know, when someone's attracted to another person of the same—"

"I get it, can you please stop talking now..?" Though he didn't think anyone was nearby, it was weird hearing that statement out loud. It made him feel like he was somehow doing something wrong in one way or another.

She smiled. "I've found your weakness! So who's the lucky crush? Is he cute? Aww, is he gay, too?"

While he was, at first, just not going to say anything, he thought of something better. Now to hope it'll work. "I'm only going to tell you if you drop the subject until we're done."

"You tricky dastard!" Despite this, Enn smirked. "But I am as curious as hell and I dunno if I can wait that long but I'm totally up for the challenge. You're on!"

(A/N: I love how the thing Enn explains is the definition of "gay.")


	11. Chapter 11- Forewarning

{-Sharena-}

By the time Natheniel was halfway through the story, Sharena already knew how it ended.

She hadn't been there when Zacharias had nearly killed Alfonse; she'd slept in a bit too late to join them and she'd wanted to talk with the Heroes instead of doing yet another moderately-boring scouting mission. So she didn't exactly know what she should've thought or felt when she heard of the news from Anna and, a bit later, when Zacharias admitted to it. When they finally saw him again, she'd been relieved to know he didn't do it on purpose (no matter how much Anna implied so both then and now) but was given a whole other thing to be unsure of how to feel about. What Natheniel had just described…she was lost as she realized that it could've been Alfonse or even Anna in Philyra's place and Zacharias in Natheniel's.

If she hadn't been having a bad feeling about Natheniel before this, she definitely was now.

"So..?" Whatever light left in Natheniel's eyes were gone as he looked at the uncertain faces of the other three.

"Ash hole," Anna muttered. From the way she held on to the "a," "ash" was not the word she was going to use. "I appreciate your honesty in not just making yourself look innocent, but it's practically the one redeemable thing about that whole story."

"She wasn't supposed to get involved!" Natheniel protested hopelessly. "The one thing Tavin's good at is dodging, and that's exactly what he was supposed to do! He wasn't listening to me! If I knew that was going to happen then I wouldn't have done it—I didn't know what I was doing and by the time it as done it was already too late, I swear!"

"Did…did you actually kill her?" Fauna asked quietly.

Natheniel shook his head. "The cut was deepest at her shoulder but gradually became nothing more than a scratch by the time it got to her waist. To put it simply, Philyra survived but Veronica stopped trusting me and Tavin found another reason to blame me for everything. I wasn't able to make up for it before I left and, well, it wasn't even the worse thing I did." He sighed. "You'll be happy to know I've lived with that guilt for…however long it's been at this point. Getting stuck in a world of nightmares kind of screws with your sense of time."

"Commander, can I—"

"Go get a cookie," Anna interrupted, nodding. Despite her level, understanding tone, she gave Sharena a worried look.

"Thanks." She left the room and started down the hall.

She didn't get very far before she heard the door open again and someone trying to catch up to her—she chose to ignore it and kept on walking.

"Sharena! Sharena, wait!" Natheniel matched her pace when he was nearly beside her. "You believe me, right? That I didn't mean it? Back home, you defended me even after everything I did…even after I hurt you and your friends. Please…please say you believe me."

"I don't know if I believe you," she answered. "I don't know if I should believe you. The things you did…things you might do…the people you hurt…"

Natheniel stopped for a moment, but quickly continued. "You were the one with the nightmares. You're the one they talked about. You…oh…" He slowed down, but she didn't. "You can hear the voices…you know what it's done—what I've done…"

"Do I?" It was a bitter question. She hoped Natheniel would take the hint and leave.

He seemed to be completely oblivious to it. Figures. "All those voices. You can't look me straight in the eye and tell me you didn't recognize any of them. Including your own."

"Can you just stop talking for at least five minutes?" She didn't want to talk about it. She didn't even want to think about it. Everything with Natheniel was confusing enough as it is, she didn't need or want to get the events of the months before this involved. That was a whole other mess she really didn't have the patience to try to understand.

"No! This is important! I need an answer! Sharena…" Natheniel reached a hand for her shoulder.

She stopped, shoved his hand out of the way, and faced him. "Do not touch me. You need an answer but I need to be alone."

"But—"

"If you don't leave me alone I'm going to tell everyone you're harassing me." This, not really surprisingly, got the attention of a few passing Heroes.

"I just want to help!"

"You really, really don't want to try me right now," Sharena remarked. "And I will do it."

Natheniel opened his mouth, and she got ready to shout. "Fine! Fine! You win!"

"Great, so I'm going to go now—" She turned around again, but he grabbed her hand before she could get too far.

"Please, just a minute of your time, and then I'll leave and you can hate me all you want or whatever." He didn't give her time to respond. Natheniel stepped in front of her, keeping her from going any further. "Look. I learned a lot about what I am while I was trapped there. What the nightmares are, how they affect the world around it and how it uses the people around it. I'll give you a hint, it doesn't matter what shape it takes form in—whether it's a demon or a monster or a literal blob—it's how it gets into your head. I've let it take control in the past…it's something that really can change a person. Trust me on this if not anything else."

"If you tell me 'don't walk into the light' I might slap you." She was seriously getting a feeling that's where this was going.

"What? No! I'm just saying that you—"

"There you two are." At Fauna's voice, the Heroes dispersed and Natheniel took a step away from Sharena, finally shutting up. "Anna was getting worried." She looked at Natheniel. "She wants to talk to you privately."

Natheniel nodded. "Good. There's a few things I'd like to share with her as well." He walked off back to where Anna was.

Fauna waited until he was out of sight before turning her attention to Sharena. "Are you sure you're alright? You're acting weird again."

"I am allowed to have thoughts, opinions, and feelings, you know!" Sharena answered harshly. She immediately realized what she said. "Sorry. I just need a minute to myself."

(A/N: Aaaand just like that, happy Sharena is gone. Natheniel how dare you.

That "walk into the light" thing was actually something I just wrote and it somehow made it into the conversation.)


	12. Chapter 12- Wake Up

{-Sharena-}

Most of the afternoon was spent by herself. It didn't clear her head any, though, as she thought about what Natheniel had said and whatever he was going to tell her. She ate and then started helping Fauna rearrange her room for the Heroes she'd be expecting later that night.

"I'm nervous," Fauna admitted. "This is kind of really new and I've never done this before—"

"You have seriously never had a sleepover before?" Sharena probably shouldn't have been surprised; Fauna really didn't seem to have gotten out much before coming to Askr. Then again it didn't sound like she had many human friends before this, either. "Remember, it's supposed to be fun, not anxiety-inducing."

"We should both know by now I find a lot of normal stuff anxiety-inducing. I'm just a very anxious person, apparently." Fauna shrugged and put a few glass ornaments on her dresser. "It probably doesn't help that Natheniel's freaking me out…"

"Let them do whatever and she'll tell us if she needs us," Sharena said. "I, for one, would like to enjoy this with friends. Like what our plan was before he came. Can we just continue doing that, please? Nothing bad can happen in just a single night. We'll hang out, eat some cookies, you can tell us about your boyfriend, and everything will be fine."

"He wasn't my—" Fauna sighed. "There's no way I'm winning this argument, is there?"

Sharena sat on Fauna's bed and watched her mess with a few more ornaments. "Not unless you can honestly tell me you've never kissed before and you didn't come up with cute nicknames for each other."

"We didn't do either! We weren't a couple! Just friends!"

"You're blushing," Sharena pointed out bluntly. She'd learned a while ago how to tell Fauna's blushing from her naturally rosy cheeks.

"Fine. But let's get this straight: we've never kissed, we never came up with nicknames, and we definitely never became a thing."

"Do I sense a bit of regretful longing..?"

"No!" Fauna gave her room one last look before joining Sharena on the bed. "Can we just save this for later? The others should be here soon, anyway."

…

Just like her prediction for the evening, they stayed up pretty late. Past whenever Anna went to bed, at least (Sharena only knew that since the commander checked on them on her way to her room). There was no mention to Natheniel; Sharena assumed he'd simply been sent back to the room he was in the night before. Eventually they called it a night.

She couldn't sleep, though. Despite being tired, she just couldn't actually get herself to close her eyes and sleep. After a couple hours she sat up—careful not to wake anyone, especially Fauna since she was a light sleeper—and left the room. She didn't know what she'd do, but it was better than just laying there.

Sharena wandered to the kitchen. She convinced herself not to have another cookie as she wondered why it was completely silent; it was a bit unusual for all the lights to be out and not hear at least one Hero snoring. Not to mention she hadn't accidentally tripped on Tharja, who often stationed herself by either of the Robins' room and watch them as they slept. Or maybe Sharena just didn't notice her—the dark mage did blend into the darkness pretty well. She shrugged it off.

"You shouldn't be here."

She jumped. "Don't scare people like that!" It wasn't until she turned around to face Natheniel that she realized something was really, really wrong.

Nothing would seem off at first glance. He was just standing there, head tilted to the side in a curious manner. With a better look, though, it was pretty obvious it wasn't normal. His eyes were blank and he no longer wore his feather necklace. And she had a feeling it wasn't because he'd just woken up.

"You're…not supposed to be here," he remarked. Even his voice sounded hollowed, but the forced, pained edge to it was what she payed attention to. "I don't even know why you're here…"

"I practically live here how am I not supposed to be here?" Sharena asked dully. She wished he wasn't blocking her exit; he was starting to creep her out.

For a moment, he looked confused. "Oh, so you…don't know, then. That's not good."

"I don't know a lot of things!" She was well aware of her lack of knowledge. That was Alfonse's job—to be the smart one of the two. Her job was to keep him from being too smart to the point he was an even bigger bummer that what he already is.

"What to do what to do…" Natheniel seemed to ignore her. "You've got to wake up. Preferably soon or now."

"Wake up?" she repeated disbelievingly. "The reason I'm here is because I couldn't sleep!" She hoped that he was just bluffing. But she had a feeling he was being serious.

He stepped out of her way. "No, you must've gone asleep sometime if you're here now. Don't you think it's a little odd that it's so quiet? Like…we're the only ones here? Did you ever actually see the others when you got up?"

Sharena wished she could say she had. In all honesty, she hadn't exactly been paying attention. They'd all had their collection of blankets signifying who was where, but there'd been no movement at all.

"Just find somewhere to hide until you wake up," he advised. "I can explain everything in the morning." When she didn't move, he became clearly annoyed. "What are you waiting for?! Go! Before someone else gets hurt…"

The sense of impending danger got her moving. She ran off, no longer worried about how loud she was, trying to process his words as she put as much space between her and Natheniel as possible.

(A/N: I bet you all thought I forgot about the sleepover thing. But I did not. And once again, Sharena bugs Fauna about her totally-not-but-kind-of boyfriend. I purposely left who else was there up to you.

Can you tell I've played Awakening? The only time specific Heroes are mentioned is when they're from Awakening...)


	13. Chapter 13- Questions, Questions

{-Alfonse-}

Much to his mild disappointment, they didn't start moving until hours after sunrise; apparently Enn wasn't quite familiar with waking up early. Though he was pretty sure that she was awake the same time he was, she'd just rolled over and went back to sleep for a few hours.

"A little impatient?" Enn asked, stuffing everything she'd had out the night before back in her satchel. "It's not my fault women get cranky when we don't get enough beauty sleep! I bet you'd do wonders with a nap, too, Mister I-Was-Up-At-Five-In-The-Freaking-Morning."

"When you grow up to it it's really not that bad," Alfonse replied honestly. "I'm just eager to get this done and return to the others." Really, he was hoping he could find something that might help Zacharias. Something that would make it worth keeping him waiting for this long.

She pulled out the map and started walking, and he quickly followed. "Tomorrow we'll be where Dad gave up—the map leads a bit further than that, though. So, generally, if we're quick, you can be back with your people or whatever in about four days."

So, hopefully, he'd only be gone for a little over a week. That didn't sound like too long. Maybe it would be a slow week at the castle.

Though just like before, Enn didn't seem to want to take silence as an answer. "So, do you have something you want to talk about? Occasionally I like to be reminded I'm not talking to myself."

"I can't say I do. Truthfully, I don't mind the silence."

"Do you just get to know someone by standing by them, then?" Enn looked back at him, confused. "If we can both talk about something we share an interest in, then we can get to know each other better. I don't think feeling like you aren't even there would give us those good bonding moments."

Alfonse decided this wasn't the time to mention that, depending on who one was talking to, it was actually very debatable how much one could learn about a person through their outward appearance. "I told you yesterday, I'm not exactly the bonding type."

"Do you even have any friends? Not counting people related to you? Seriously I don't know how anyone likes you. Or do other people like silent guys..?"

"I do, in fact, have friends. I'm just not very talkative and my trust is gained with time." If Enn thought he was hard to bond with, then she'd be completely lost with Anna. Over six years together and the commander still seemed to have trouble seeing them as equals and opening up to them.

"Next question!" Enn declared. "How many women are you friends with and how can they tolerate you up so early? It's kind of hard to sleep when your traveling companion is shuffling around like a mouse waiting for me to wake up."

"They're normally awake around the time I am," he explained. "It's not really much of a problem." Enn clearly wanted the other part of the question answered, though. "Two, not counting Sharena."

"Compared to the amount of other guys you're friends with?"

He shrugged. "Just one—though it's been a while since we actually talked face-to-face." And that time had not been a happy one.

"Oh, wow, that's like…a really small friend circle." Enn pulled out a granola bar from her satchel and began eating it. "You really are a loner. I here thought my group consisting of a couple dozen people wasn't a lot."

There wasn't any way Alfonse would consider that not a lot. When he thought of small groups, he thought of anything below ten people.

She noticed his confusion quickly. "They're mainly Mom and Dad's friends," Enn said. "A good bit of them are really old but old people have the wildest stories to tell. The only bad thing is that I don't know how much of it I should believe; age screws up a person's memory, apparently."

"There's actually a reason behind that—"

"Right, and I'm here for a science lesson," Enn returned dully. "I've got a better thing for you to talk about. You wouldn't happen to have some money in those nonexistent pockets of yours, would you? I, uh, kinda don't have much on me and I didn't pack anything besides these." She waved her granola bar around.

He shook his head. "I wasn't exactly planning for a trip." Then again, he'd hoped Henriette would've been more helpful. But if he had been given the chance to properly prepare, he most likely would've had to explain to Anna and, really, it was best for everyone if she stayed in the dark about it—at least, that's what he told himself.

"So, that's a no, then?" She didn't really wait for a response. "Luckily for you I know a guy around here who'd be willing to help us out."

"You might want to go by yourself," Alfonse suggested. "There's a chance that someone might see the two of us and, well…"

Enn snorted. "Like I'd ever date a dude like you again!"

"Again?" he couldn't stop himself from asking. "I—I mean, it's not my place to know, really—"

"I'll, uh…tell you later." She shrugged. "It's a pretty long story. Suffice to say, the ending was supposed to be happy but it turned out not to be." Enn glanced over at him again. "Are you speaking by personal experience? About people thinking you're dating someone you're not?"

"Sadly," he sighed. "Honestly, assuming she was a servant would be more reasonable—being young, modest, and seemingly coming out of nowhere."

"How many books have you gotten off the shelf for her and how many times were you carrying her luggage around town while she went shopping?"

That was an odd question to ask, but like all her other questions, he knew she wanted an answer. "At least a dozen, but I don't think she's ever once gone shopping; she's not really materialistic."

"Age difference?"

"Five years—though the gap's only going to get bigger as time goes on."

Enn paused for a minute. "Is she a Hero?"

He nodded. Anna would not approve of this line of conversation, especially to a more-or-less stranger. "An important one." Alfonse left it off there and Enn didn't pry.

They soon fell into silence.

(A/N: Yes, Enn inturrupted Alfonse so then I wouldn't have to look up stuff.

Guys stop talking about Fauna.

Also, friendly reminder, as of chapter 2 of Book IV, there are only 6 male characters made for Heroes. For comparison, there are 15 female characters. I think. Assuming I didn't forget anyone. The Order of Heroes is slowly becoming a girl's group.)


	14. Chapter 14- Promise

{-Sharena-}

"…up! Come on, it's almost noon…"

Sharena sat up. Her heart was pounding, and it took her a moment to remember why. "It was a dream…" she muttered. "Just…just a dream…" A freakishly realistic, terrifying dream. Right when she thought she'd had enough of them.

Fauna's hug interrupted her thoughts. "I'm so glad you're alright! Anna came earlier to get us and everyone else left but you were still asleep and didn't respond and…and…" She was crying.

The worst thing anyone could ever do to Fauna was make her cry, if not just because of how rare it was. She had always been more likely to huddle in a corner and avoid everything; only once had Sharena ever actually seen her cry before, back when Fauna came to Askr and the unexpected major changes proved a bit too much for her to handle. The two of them kept it between them for a while until Fauna opened up to Anna about it—not long after that everyone in the castle knew about Fauna's awesome cooking abilities, they had an abundance of cookies, and most of her spare time was spent with animals.

"I'm fine, really," Sharena told her gently. "Just a nightmare."

"No, I'm pretty sure that was 'just a nightmare.'" This brought her attention to the doorway, where Anna stood. Her arms were crossed and she looked serious, but it was pretty clear she was relieved, too. "Get dressed and something to eat. I'll be waiting outside for when you're done." With that, the commander left.

Fauna moved back, wiping her tears away with her sleeve. "She's been covering for you all day," she said. She got up. "Well, I guess I'll leave you to it—I need to supervise some Heroes at the kitchen."

…

Anna was talking to a collection of Heroes when Sharena found her. Among the group was Natheniel. He was intently listening to whatever Anna was saying, but after noticing Sharena, excused himself and left—several of the Heroes joining him. Anna noticed her and waved her over.

"Up for a walk? Just the two of us."

Sharena nodded. "Sure."

They left the castle, neither of them speaking until it was further behind them.

"Natheniel…told me some things yesterday," Anna said, breaking their silence.

"You believe him?" It was a casual question; Sharena didn't really care if Anna did or not.

"There wasn't much of a choice. I don't know if he was lying, but I'm not taking the risk that he's telling the truth. What he talked about, what he described…it would put you three in too much danger and, as your commander, I can't let that happen." Anna was looking straight ahead, but it wasn't hard to tell she had put a lot of thought on the subject. "Honestly, I was reluctant to accept it at first, but after what happened this morning…"she trailed off.

"So…what did he tell you?" Sharena remembered her own meeting with Natheniel. She wondered if Anna knew about that, too.

"All that matters is that I know so then I can plan ahead and prevent as much damage as possible." She glanced at Sharena. "Speaking of which, you didn't tell me that you were still hearing the voices." Natheniel had told her about it, then.

"I didn't think it was important," Sharena answered simply.

"But what if it had been? Would you have just kept it from all of us until you finally let yourself admit that it was a problem?" Anna sighed. "It wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't kept it to yourself—you know that, right? I know you're not the kind of person to hide things from her friends, yet none of us knew about it. I mean, I can somehow expect you not telling me but I don't get Alfonse or Fauna. If something's happening again you can't just pretend like it's not there; it won't solve anything."

Sharena shrugged. "It didn't just randomly start again, if that's what you're thinking. They've been there since I first heard them."

Anna definitely seemed surprised by this. "Sharena, that was months ago. Really, what if that had been serious?"

"It's not a problem, honest. I don't get why you're so worried about it…" Her voice got quieter as she continued, looking at the ground. She was waiting to get yelled at.

"Because one day, it will be serious," Anna replied in a level tone. Not actually nearly as loud as Sharena was expecting her to be. "And all of us could very well go unknowing to it until it's to the point where we can't do anything about it. You only told Alfonse about the nightmares because he caught you in the middle of the night, and you only told me over a week later when one of said nightmares nearly scared you to death. If something else ever does happen I need you to promise me you'll tell one of us before it gets to that point again. Just because it's not an immediate bother doesn't mean it's not still important. Especially now with all of this going on."

Sharena didn't know if she'd be able to promise that. She didn't like making others worry about her—nor was she even really comfortable with having several people fussing over her like she wasn't able to look after herself (sure, she had a brother and, yes, he was a bit protective of her, but that didn't mean she was completely defenseless on her own). Anna in particular had always made a big deal out of anything she thought could be serious, but it was a step better than Henriette, who considered practically everything that didn't obviously shout "your daughter's happy!" as bad.

"Look, I don't like feeling helpless any more than you do," Anna remarked. "But I can't help if I don't know what the problem is. All I want to know is if anything happens…if I know about it, you won't have to deal with it any longer than you have to."

She nodded slowly. "Yeah… I'll try."

"That's all I ask."

(A/N: Alright, Sharena, you've now promised basically the same thing to both Alfonse and Anna. Now you've got to do it.

And a bit more insight on Fauna's past in Askr! Yay!)


	15. Chapter 15- An Explanation

{-Sharena-}

They'd walked for a while longer, following the scouting path back to the castle. Anna went to go help Fauna with the Heroes, whereas Sharena had gone to her room.

She felt like she should be exhausted. But she didn't really want to sleep.

There was a single knock on the door. "Can I, uh…can I come in?" What did Natheniel want?

"If you have a problem you might want to go to Commander Anna," she remarked.

"No, no…I want you. It's about what you saw last night—I did promise you an explanation."

With her talk with Anna, she'd forgotten about Natheniel's promise in the dream.

Sharena got up from her bed and opened the door. Natheniel looked relieved that she was actually letting him in. "Just don't take too long."

"I only need a couple minutes of your time," Natheniel replied gratefully. "To put it simply, I didn't think mildly normal people like you could intervene with those types of dreams…and I'm glad it didn't end up hurting you." He walked into her room, far enough that she could shut the door again. Sharena just partially closed it and hoped for the best. "I'd come to the realization that I shouldn't stay here for any longer than I had to—since I told Anna everything you guys needed to know yesterday, I decided that time was up. I took off my feather necklace in an attempt to reach with my nightmare and end both of us for good."

"You're not explaining well," Sharena pointed out.

Natheniel sighed. "I planned to commit a form of suicide; by facing my nightmare, I could stop the cycle…but because I'm a part of them, it would mean killing myself as well. Of course, I wasn't expecting to come across you there. The only reason I didn't go through with the plan was in fear of what it might do to you. Thankfully they know they can't hurt me without hurting themself so all we did was give each other death stares until I woke up."

"Fun," she muttered dully.

"Can I ask you a favor, before I go?" He sounded a bit anxious, and his expression didn't show much different emotions.

She shrugged.

"If…if you should ever come across something that resembles a shadow, with red eyes and an over-theatrical way of speaking…get out of there as soon as possible, okay?" He seemed pretty serious. "That would be my nightmare—Lekra. It wouldn't be the first time they've found a way past the barrier that separates dreams from reality, and especially not the first when I wasn't even in that world anymore. If they saw you…I don't really know what they'd do to you, but I have good reason to believe they won't be there to chat. All of you should just stay safe, I'll do whatever need be from my end to make sure you guys never need to go through what they did." Natheniel turned to leave. "That's all I had to say. Thank you for your time."

"Wait."

He stopped. "Is there…still something you don't understand? Or do you need something..?"

"When was the first time Lekra came? What did they do?" If she was going to be at risk to encountering some weird nightmare thing, she should darn well know what she might be able to expect.

Natheniel nodded, but didn't move to face her. "The first time I can remember was when they paid a 'visit' to Tavin shortly before his mother was killed. From what I know, they didn't do much—he passed out and nearly scared Fauna to death, but no real harm was done." He paused. "Five years after that, Lekra and Tavin met again. Lekra was able to cut Tavin's hand…something that mirrored the wound I'd give to Philyra a couple months later."

"So kinda like some sort of warning?"

"That was my guardians' general conclusion, yes. I don't understand why Lekra does it, though…despite being a part of each other, we've never quite properly talked. Really, I wouldn't put it past them to just be looking out for their own interest. Or maybe…they're just afraid of what I could do." He glanced over at her. "I won't be trying to meet with them again. But I won't be here much longer either way. Soon I'll be out of your way and eventually you probably won't even remember I existed." She doubted that. However much she wanted to, she couldn't foresee these past few months being forgotten easily.

Then he left.

Somehow, though…Sharena didn't really feel alone. It was both unsettling and comforting—like it just meant to be one, but turned out to be part of the other. She thought she felt the brush of something against her, a gesture meaning to be warm but returned with a shiver. And for a brief moment, she could've sworn she heard something close to her whisper, "Little dreamer…" yet the tone and voice was completely incomprehensible. She decided to just put it off as her imagination.

She heard talking not far from her door, the voices easily recognized as Fauna's and Natheniel's. Fauna must have bumped into him while he was leaving.

Fauna said something that sounded like "Why aren't you working?"

There was a moment's pause before Natheniel's response, "Why are you?"

The only answer was silence. A moment later, Fauna slowly opened the door.

"Sorry to intrude." She handed her a letter with very little flair or enthusiasm. "You've got mail."

"Thanks." Sharena took the letter, not really looking it over but having a good guess on who it was from. She put it on her bed so then she'll remember it later. "Need help with anything?"

Fauna shook her head. "I don't, but I'm sure Anna can think up something for you."

(A/N: And do you know what Sharena does with 80% of the information Natheniel gave her? Absolutely nothing. Spoilers, she still befriends the demon-nightmare thing.)


	16. Chapter 16- Family

{-Alfonse-}

The two stopped at a nearby village—Enn was the only one to go in, however, as it was apparently where her acquaintance was. Alfonse just waited by the entrance, trying his best to look like he was doing anything but loitering.

Enn came back out after nightfall. "I've got us some food! Find any nice places to make camp?"

He nodded and lead her there.

Alfonse kept himself busy starting the fire while Enn unpacked everything she seemingly needed for the night.

"Can I, uh…can I ask you something?" Enn glanced up at him. "You don't have to answer. I'm just curious. What's your family like? Beyond Sharena, I mean."

"There's not much to tell, honestly," he replied. "Father was either an only child or the only one anyone ever talked about. Who knows about Mother's side of the family. I wasn't old enough to remember any of our grandparents but I hear quite a bit of stories about one of them." And despite all those stories, he still didn't know all the details. But Enn didn't need to know that.

"Sounds totally awkward," Enn remarked. "Do you think they even like each other anymore? I don't really see the king and queen together a lot but they never really seemed happy. Sometimes I forget not everyone in the nobility is as much of a close-knit family as mine."

He shrugged. "If they weren't then that relationship most likely wouldn't have lasted this long, even if both of them would be a bit too stubborn to just let it go. I know Mother, at least, would put up a fight should the idea be suggested." Alfonse nodded as Enn handed him something to eat. "Any particular reason for asking?"

"I was just curious. But…remember what I said earlier today? I also want to explain that and honestly I didn't know if you'd totally yell at me like everyone else does." She began talking between bites, "See, it's not particularly a very good-reflecting story. Mom doesn't like me talking about it. A lot of the people I told where close friends, but none of them really took it well."

Alfonse just gave her a reassuring look so she knew he was listening. With the admittedly odd group he spent a good deal of his time with, he didn't really think Enn's story could bother him—at least not in the way she was implying.

"Alright. I'm doing this." She took in a deep breath before continuing. "A few years ago, I was in an affair with this guy. Now, I thought he was really cute and didn't really pay attention to our lack of public displays of affection. Ellie never liked him, though, and our brother couldn't even stand to be in the same room as him. I guess I should've realized it then but I stayed completely oblivious to it. A while later, I found out I was going to be having his kid. Mom just suggested marrying him to keep both of our family's names clean. Of course he didn't like that idea—went off somewhere, dissociated his family with mine. Never saw him again after that, but if I did he'd probably be running back home with a bloody nose, honestly." Enn shrugged. "As for the kid… They were twins, actually. Two little boys. Both would be going to a family friend, though, since Dad and Mom wouldn't have it and that couple weren't having much luck. The youngest of the boys was stillborn; the other made it a good three days."

"I don't get why you're telling me this…" Alfonse admitted. He, personally, didn't feel like they knew each other well enough for Enn to be telling him these kinds of things. This was for close friends, not two people who met each other a few days ago.

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't exactly like hiding anything about myself." She waved at her clothes—or near lack thereof. "And I'm dead set on becoming friends with you, but if you turned out to react to it like everyone else did, then I probably wouldn't be. I want us to be able to be open with each other; that includes talking about stuff everyone else kinda just pretends like it never happened. I was a mom for a whopping seventy-two hours and I'm not ashamed to let the world know about it!"

"You're braver than I am, in any case," Alfonse remarked. "If I had a story like that, I'd probably deny it." He'd probably also be even more disowned then he already was, which definitely wouldn't be a very good image to have. "On second thought…I'd probably go into hiding." No one that really cared would question it, either.

Enn laughed. "However long it takes, I'm not giving up until you can tell me. Even if it takes us a couple years." She paused for a moment. "When this is done, you two can come over to my family's place any time you'd like."

"Would your family mind, though?"

"Nah. Dad won't care as long as you don't interrupt his studying, Mom travels a lot anyway, Ellie's kinda chill with everything and would probably love to get in touch with Sharena again, and my brother's still got nineteen more years of murdering the Askran soldiers' brain cells with his lack of them. Most of the time, it's like I'm the only one there. Honest."

"I'll see what Sharena thinks," he promised. Alfonse didn't want her to have to be there unwillingly.

"We've got tons of old books, too. Legends and history and stuff." Enn chuckled sheepishly. "Just, uh, don't look in anything marked 'photo album' or else I'll kill you. You don't want to see the horrors that some sorry sucker had to sit down and draw for hours." She shuddered. "I have to live with the images engraved in my head, the least I can do is save you from that same torture."

"Baby pictures?"

"Fifteen of each kid. And one of my brother naked and trying to look dramatic. Seriously I don't understand why it's even in the for-the-public part of the library."

(A/N: Seriously does Alfonse even HAVE baby pictures? I feel like Sharena would have more if not just because she was almost solely raised by Henriette...

You might be happy to know that, after this, Alfonse and Enn become book nerds together. Someone's gotta be the source of useless knowledge.)


	17. Chapter 17- Mysterious Voice

{-Sharena-}

"You've gotta look at it from this angle," she stated, pointing up at the sky and tracing the form with her finger.

"I don't get what I'm looking at…" Fauna remarked.

The morning sky was perfect for cloud watching and the early spring weather was welcomed. So while they were technically here to give some of the Heroes room to do whatever (the castle courtyard wasn't big enough for playing dragons, after all), Sharena voted the group went to the stargazing hill—a bit further than what Anna had permitted them to go, but as long as she made sure none of them set anything on fire, she didn't see a problem with it.

"It's a bunny. Look, there's its ears, over there's the legs, the tail is—"

"Still don't see it," Fauna interrupted, frowning. "It just looks like a cloud."

"Jeez, it's obvious this was not your hobby of choice." Sharena paused. "Either that or you're just really uncreative."

Fauna shrugged. "Cleaning was my hobby of choice; there's always something that needs to get cleaned with two little kids in the household. I didn't exactly travel very far from home, nor did I really have time to sit down and stare at the sky for hours."

"You didn't seem to have a life, either," Sharena mumbled. "I mean, who hasn't done this before?"

"Guess that's what happens when you're a part of the working class." Fauna got up. "I'm going to check on the Heroes."

Sharena sat up. "Fauna, wait." She sighed, watching Fauna go. "Great going, you screwed up that conversation," she scolded herself quietly.

They hadn't really talked at all since Fauna gave Sharena the letter (which she still hasn't read nor replied to—just confirmed that it was from her mother), and she was beginning to wonder if Fauna had something to say about yesterday. Either that or she just decided it was time for an uncalled for cold shoulder. Whatever the cause, it was oddly strange given the fact that she was never really seemed to try this hard to avoid Sharena before.

"Little dreamer…so full of fear."

That wasn't any voice she recognized. And it almost felt like it was trying to taunt her, but also trying to sound inviting all the same. She couldn't really figure out where it was coming from, either.

"I wish we could chat more, but I really can't stay… Promise to actually talk next time?"

She stayed silent. The voice didn't talk again, either.

Sharena barely noticed Fauna coming back and standing in front of her. "Are you even listening?"

"What?" She didn't bother trying to ask Fauna if she'd heard that too—it wasn't hard to guess what her answer would be. "I was distracted."

Fauna held out her hand. "We've got to go soon; it's been a few hours and, I don't know about you, but I'd rather not spend the day sitting around." She gave her a little smile. "Anna's probably waiting for us, anyway."

Sharena got up. "Let's gather up the Heroes now, then."

…

They dispersed as soon as they got back. Fauna used the general excuse of "making more cookies," but declined help. Sharena ended up carrying training supplies while Anna pointed out Natheniel's lack of focus while fighting—she was even brave enough to poke him (though with the end of one of the wooden lances, just about as far away as she could be) while he was trying to show them his ability with magic to prove her point. Suffice to say he got distracted and wasn't even able to finish.

"Gods, I hope you never have to fight to the death," Anna remarked. "Because you'd get murdered. Effortlessly. A thirteen-year-old Sharena could've beaten you."

"Hey!" Sharena frowned. "I wasn't that bad. I think."

"You guys are really being supportive," Natheniel retorted sarcastically.

Anna shrugged. "Sometimes you've got to be given the cold, hard truth. That includes making sure you understand when you suck at something."

"It's nice to know you never changed. Mostly." Natheniel gave them a wistful smile. "And also it's a little hard to concentrate with you two there. I swear I was much better back when I actually practiced on a normal basis."

"If you say so." Anna took the practice tome out of his hands and unceremoniously dropped it in the pile with the others. She said something else after that but Sharena wasn't really listening.

Standing beside Natheniel was a wispy, faded figure. They almost shared the same height and build, but while Natheniel was talking to Anna, it had its hand outstretched towards Sharena in a welcoming yet unsettling gesture. It smiled at her, causing her to drop what she was holding and earning her a concerned look from the other two.

"Sharena?" Anna's hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality.

She tried quickly thinking of a way to avoid answering what Anna was really asking. Eventually she took too long and there wasn't much point in making an excuse.

Thankfully Natheniel spoke up before she had to make any form of an answer. "There's one more thing I want you two to know before I leave. Just the two of you—someone can tell Alfonse when he gets back." He paused. "Preferably not in the courtyard. It's really not something that concerns anyone else."

Anna gave him a skeptical glance but motioned towards the castle anyway. "I'll be there in a minute."

(A/N: Fauna's just upset because Sharena told her basically the same thing Ethen always told her. Probably...)


	18. Chapter 18- Nightmare's Bane

{-Sharena-}

She was admittedly surprised when Anna walked off to talk to some Heroes instead of questioning her. Sharena figured she'd have to explain eventually, though, but didn't really see a point in worrying about it at the moment.

Soon the three of them were alone and Natheniel began yet another explanation.

"There's…one more thing about the nightmares you should know about. I don't know how particularly relevant this is anymore, but it might be helpful to know in case it is. This is probably going to sound really obvious. The nightmares…they take easy prey on those who are alone. What people say about them being able to smell fear is actually false—they actually can't smell at all but that's beside the point—though they do something close to feed off of it. Everything makes them stronger, even simply going to sleep. And it tends to leave the person they're taking it from weaker; I would assume you're familiar with the general idea what that does to said person." He was talking to Sharena when he said that. She knew it from the way he looked at her, if not just for a moment, before he continued.

"You had two fine examples of what the nightmares are capable of doing. Together it basically sums up everything they can do. Sharena generally just seems to be their favorite, given the things she has the ability to do, but believe it or not that wasn't actually as bad as it might seem compared to the other half. Some people gain their interests more than others, and that normally leans towards people that aren't really stable in one way or another. Now, remember Veronica when you kind of worked together in the world of nightmares. She didn't like or even really knew any of you, and the feeling was neutral. We wouldn't know for sure unless we asked her, but it's pretty safe to assume she wasn't happy or felt comfortable—if I had to guess she was actually pretty alone despite the four other people there. The nightmares took advantage of that. They can't do anything to anyone without their victim being alone, and they took that small moment of opportunity to take a good bit of strength. Wounds dealt by one of them heal slower than normal; as long as it bleeds they gain strength by it. After that happened to her, the world kind of began becoming irrelevant as the nightmares tried as hard as they could to grow on as much of her fears as possible. And, suffice to say, she didn't see the same ink blot you guys did because of it. They can do those kinds of things to anyone. It doesn't matter how they go about doing it or what form they choose to take on while they're doing it. All it matters is how they get inside you and mess with you. Veronica let her guard down long enough for that to happen to her. I'd…really prefer if it didn't have to happen to anyone else."

He still didn't seem to be done, only stopping for a minute. "That crystal you got from the world of nightmares is both revered and hated by them. It has the ability to control them to every degree they can be controlled, though it can't contain them all. My feather necklace—which my guardians gave to me when I was younger, before I knew what it did—is practically made out of the only part of it my guardians had, resulting in its general stiffness, and helped contain the power I have as a technical form of nightmare. Of course the nightmare of a nightmare is powerful, though, and they grew a bit stronger with each day spent contained. I'd eventually lost the necklace a few months before I left. While I'm aware that I'm partially to blame, I can't help the feeling that it played part in what happened to Philyra. So besides the crystal's ability to contain, it had the ability to reflect the deeds of the nightmares. Every one of their victims has a voice within it. They stay there as a warning to whoever's close enough to hear…though those warnings are pretty useless as considerably few people can hear their cries. I can't; I don't think anyone from my world could, or at least not anyone I knew. No one really knew what causes someone to have that ability, either—it could be generational or random or someone 'chosen' for it. Though even it has a way of messing with people."

"Sharena, can you go see what Fauna's doing?" Anna's expression was completely unreadable. That normally was not a good thing.

"I'm not leaving," Sharena answered with blunt defiance. Natheniel seemed to shrink a little. "If you've got something you want to say to him you can deal with me being in earshot."

Anna sighed. "Please don't make this complicated. Look, just go, see if Fauna needs help baking or stress cleaning or whatever the hell she's doing—"

"Can't. She's denying any help I try to give her."

"Well then tell her I ordered you to."

"Still not going."

"Just cooperate with me here for five freaking minutes."

Sharena still just stood there. They held eye contact for a minute longer until she gave up. "Fine, you win." There likely wasn't much she could've done to avoid it, anyway.

Just about as soon as she left the room and closed the door again, Natheniel spoke. "You know she's going to be right outside the door, right?" Sharena didn't know if she wanted to be impressed or annoyed at how accurate that was.

"At least I can pretend she's not here," Anna sighed. "It's not exactly easy to talk about someone when they're standing right next to you." She said more in a hushed tone—just quiet enough that Sharena couldn't hear it.

Natheniel's response wasn't any louder. The only words she could hear was "Nothing that I can think of." and, after a moment of pause, "Sorry."

Guessing that they weren't planning on letting her hear them, Sharena decided to actually see what Fauna was doing.

(A/N: It's a bit sad when a good deal of explaining is done in the semi-sequel instead of the actual story, huh..? Most of this wasn't even thought of at the time.)


	19. Chapter 19- Discovery

{-Alfonse-}

"We're here!" Enn announced enthusiastically, practically twirling around the forest clearing. She had another lollipop out today and victoriously put it back in her mouth. "Dad gave up pretty much right at this spot."

This wasn't exactly a place that looked giving up worthy. It wasn't hard to get to, they didn't encounter anything besides wild animals (none of which were even harmful), and being so close to where Enn said her father was supposed to be going, it didn't quite make sense to Alfonse why to stop here. Or maybe he was just overestimating how little the excuse had to be for some people to simply give up.

Still, he chose to voice his thoughts. "Did your father ever say why he stopped here?"

"Nope! Just that he did," she replied brightly. "I guess Mom could've called him back or something else caught more of his attention, though. He didn't actually tell me about this until recently, which is kinda weird since he's always telling me new stories and several others had to be cancelled for one reason or another so it's not because he technically 'failed' it."

"I'm the only one having a bad feeling about this, aren't I?" Alfonse didn't even need her to reply to know what her answer was.

"Just you! I'm actually really excited. It's not every day I get to finish something Dad started, after all! He's done all sorts of awesome things. Like, it's kinda amazing just to think that he stood right here."

Alfonse knew who Enn's role model was, at least. Then again, she made it sound like the two of them spent quite a bit of time together.

"Now come on! This is no time to chicken out! The place he was supposed to go to shouldn't be too far." Enn didn't check the map or even looked around; instead bounding straight ahead. Alfonse somewhat reluctantly followed, knowing that it really would be a waste to turn back now (not to mention he still didn't have much of an idea on how he was going to explain his absence to Anna).

"What do you think is there?" Alfonse asked, if not just to avoid silence. He couldn't help the feeling that he shouldn't be here. Or at least wasn't supposed to be.

"I hope it's something exciting. You think there's treasure? Or, like, this really pretty but probably cursed pendant that we won't know is cursed until one of us puts it on or something?"

"The probability of running into either of those things are…practically impossible. Any treasure there might've been is likely gone by now, and there's not much reason to curse a random pendant."

"You're seriously the exact definition of 'no fun.'"

"Then you wouldn't be surprised if you knew how many other times I've been called that."

"Please tell me they were all from Sharena."

He shrugged. "Most of them at least—all of them at most. I've honestly lost count."

They walked through the forest for a while longer before coming to another clearing.

The clearing was obviously man-made, nearly a perfect circle marked by a shallow ditch. A small structure stood in the center, clearly in disrepair. It took Alfonse a moment to realize the whole area was decorated with statues of the artistic representations of the dragon gods Askr and Embla, whether it be painting on the structure or stone placed into the ground.

"I'm taking a closer look," Enn decided firmly.

"That might not be the best—"

And she was already going, completely ignoring him. He sighed and followed her.

Enn poked her head inside the structure. "It is really freaking dusty in here. It's also a lot bigger-looking on the inside." She stepped in cautiously and looked around. "So…what if I told you I recognized this kind of architecture?"

"I'd both be mildly surprised and extremely impressed," Alfonse answered honestly. "Because I do not."

"You wouldn't," Enn replied casually. "You look like the type of person who hasn't stepped a foot into Embla before."

"Well, you wouldn't be wrong."

"Also being the daughter of a pretty hard core historian has it's perks. I didn't just pick up stories from him, you know." She lightly traced one of the designs, brushing the wild plants that had made the abandoned structure its home. "Pop quiz time. How much do you know about Emblian religion?"

He was about to question her, but decided to just answer. "It's generally centered around the relationship of the dragon god Embla and the empire's first ruler, Thrasir. It builds on the belief that those descended from her line are direct links to Embla, resulting in most subjects' compliance to whatever the emperor or empress orders. The initial practice died out decades ago but the fundamentals are, theoretically, still followed by Emblians today."

"Must be why they like Veronica so much. Askr would never agree to putting someone her age on the throne." Her remark was off-handed and probably not meant to be spoken aloud. She was shuffling through some papers she must have found as she continued, "Either way, I think this is one of their old temples. Carvings and decorations match up." Enn turned to him, handing him one of the papers. "Can you make this out at all? I, despite having pretty sucky handwriting myself, cannot read it. You more or less grew up with Sharena so you're able to decipher awful handwriting, right?"

Alfonse gently took it from her. "Where did you find this? It's oddly well-preserved for being in a place that likely hasn't been touched in years."

"It was in a case under the floorboard." She shrugged.

He nodded, turning his attention to the paper.

"Is it legible?"

"Yes and no. Most of it just looks like someone compiled letters and claimed it was a word with meaning." He tilted it so then she could see, pointing to the words that made sense. "Did you find more like this?"

Enn handed him more papers. "Dozens. They all look generally the same, though."

"I'll send these to my friend and see if he can make out any of this." After all, Zacharias was Emblian—he'd have a better chance at knowing what it was than Alfonse did. "It might not particularly be what he's looking for, but it might still be able to help nonetheless."

"I'd make copies if I were you, too," Enn remarked. "Who knows what might happen to them. Plus, Dad could probably figure out something. With any luck you and your friend can get things done twice as quickly!"

"Yeah… Let's start back. It doesn't look like there's much else here."

(A/N: Hey, Sharena has good handwriting 50% of the time! It just depends who she plans on seeing it...)


	20. Chapter 20- Gone

{-Sharena-}

Her morning started normally. She woke up, almost reluctantly left the warmth of her blankets, went downstairs to eat breakfast, joined in a conversation with some of the Heroes about their dreams last night (though did not share her own, feeling as it definitely wasn't something they needed to know), and eventually helped out the same Heroes until later in the day.

Fauna walked up to them and handed each of them a cookie. This was already suspicious. "Have any of you seen Natheniel today?"

Sharena shook her head, taking a bite out of the cookie before asking, "Why?"

"No one seems to have seen him all day," Fauna answered. "I think Anna's about ready to cuss someone out, too. Actually she might be doing that now…"

"He said he was leaving soon, anyway," Sharena pointed out casually. She waved off the Heroes to let them continue working. "So he leaves without telling anyone—"

"One, the gates lock at nine and I definitely would've woken up if he tried to leave. Two, he wasn't the only thing that disappeared." She gestured for Sharena to follow her. "Come on; I'll show you."

Fauna led her back into the castle, through enough hallways that Sharena began recognizing where they were going. Anna had put the crystal around here—Sharena only really knew that since the voices were louder here. But there wasn't any voices now, and she didn't need to see the empty room to know what Natheniel had taken with him.

"Anna noticed he was gone pretty early," Fauna explained as she fumbled with the lock, "But the crystal wasn't there when she checked." She opened the door and nodded for Sharena to look. "He even did the should-be-smart-but-Anna-is-too-ticked-off-to-care thing and left a note."

Sharena finished her cookie before walking to the note placed in the center of the room. Beside it was Natheniel's feather necklace, emitting a quiet, pained moaning sound. She tried her best to ignore it, turning her attention to the note.

'All of you are going to kill me for this, but so be it. This is how things have to go.

I'm leaving this world as soon as possible. As means of kind of tracking me, I left my feather necklace here. Being obtained in the world of nightmares, it holds a certain amount of power that the real version possessed but it is completely tied to me. When it disappears, you'll know I'm gone for good. I hope it would be because I ended it, but there's a chance it would simply be because I left the world. Maybe it won't be too hard for you guys; just remember what I told you earlier and everything should turn out alright. Anything that isn't you can certainly blame on me, if it makes anyone feel better.

Goodbyes are a bit bittersweet, aren't they? For me, at least.

-Natheniel'

She stood there and tried to wrap her head around what Natheniel had written. Should she be happy that he's gone now? Annoyed by the way he went about doing it and what he took with him? She felt like the feather necklace wasn't the only thing he left behind, whether he was aware of it or not. Something that knew he was gone.

"You're right… It was me he'd forgotten. Though maybe that's not so much of a bad thing…"

That was the same voice that she heard yesterday—and standing on the other side of the note was the source, which she'd seen by Natheniel a while on the same day.

It smiled at her again. "Won't be too long, now. Soon we'll be introduced and we can get to the real show. Simply exciting, isn't it?"

"Sharena?"

"I'm…I'm fine," she replied quickly without thinking of a proper answer. Sharena watched the figure disappear before turning towards Fauna and leaving the room.

Fauna frowned. "I think our definitions of 'fine' are very different from each other. Mine is generally 'alive, healthy, and happy' whereas yours…really just seems to be 'alive.'"

Sharena shrugged. "Someone doesn't need to be happy to be fine." Fauna probably wasn't aware of the amount of faking she'd had to do when she was younger or the personal experience behind her words.

"Care to help me check supplies? It's around that time of month again and it would be one less thing of Anna's to-do list."

She was a bit surprised at the offer. "I thought you were avoiding me, though."

"You're my friend, and I mean it when I say I can't really imagine a life here without you, but… Sometimes you can be a little hard to handle." What could have been taken as in insult given anything it could be implying wasn't that harsh at all when Fauna said it. "With everything about the nightmares happening, I decided to give us both some time to ourselves. No one particularly seems all that excited about letting me know exactly what's going on, anyway."

"I can tell you," Sharena suggested off-handedly. They started walking to the supply room. "Oh! How about we go back to that village tomorrow, where we met Natheniel?"

"Only as long as Anna agrees to it. She has a right to know where we'd be going."

"That sounds doable. I'll ask and, if all goes well, we can meet up by the gates. Maybe if we're lucky I can get her to give us some snack money."

(A/N: aaah, foreshadowing for the next story...)


	21. Chapter 21- The End

{-Alfonse-}

Practically all of his hopes for a simple, "oh, you didn't miss anything" was gone the moment he got back. Anna got him caught up on the events of the past week, though thankfully seemed to forget to ask where he'd been the whole time. Following Enn's advice, Alfonse copied the papers they'd found and placed the originals with the letter Zacharias had yet to take (adding a note, stating that he hoped it might prove useful even though he admittedly had no clue what it was).

A few days ago he'd introduced—or re-introduce in Sharena's case—the others to Enn. They actually all got along considerably well once Enn grasped that Anna preferred to be seen as an individual and not as a duplicate. Anna seemed happy to have another reliable source for researching what else the nightmares could do and confirm what Natheniel had told her, Sharena generally fell right back into place with them and gently explained everything that changed since she was a kid, and Fauna's reaction was a bit harder to understand but it was safe to assume that she enjoyed their time together. When the four of them came back to the castle hours later, Natheniel's feather necklace was gone.

Alfonse closed his bedroom door and began opening Zacharias's letter. He didn't really know what he wanted to feel as he read it, though.

'Sorry I didn't respond earlier. As you've possibly heard, stuff is kind of a mess over at Embla and I'm pretty sure Veronica knows that I'm sending you these.

Thanks for the papers. I'll look through them and see if I can find anything that might help, and you can look on your copies, too. And who knows, Sharena might actually be able to figure something out—she always saw things in a completely different angle than what either of us would've.

As for your question… I wish I could say I knew. I'd probably end up staying in Embla; at least for a little while. I'm being completely honest—and she's definitely going to kill me for telling you this—in saying that Veronica's not exactly doing well. I knew that the transaction wasn't going to be easy for her before and it's highly unlikely it's going to be any easier now. I may never really be there when she wants me to, and I probably drive her insane, but I'm her older brother… Of all people, I think you'd be the most likely to understand what I'm feeling.'

Everything Zacharias wrote made sense, and Alfonse really did understand it. But it didn't really make him feel much better. He didn't know if it was considered selfish or petty or simply childish, but he didn't really know how long he'd able to wait for the return of his old friend. Their letters was the closest thing to proper interaction they'd had in years. Alfonse kind of hoped for their next meeting face-to-face to be only good news, instead of a bittersweet encounter that just ended with a proper farewell.

He was about to set the letter aside and begin writing the reply when he noticed there was also writing, though a lot smaller, on the other side. What it read was quite simple:

'By the way, how are you and Sharena doing? And your parents, if you even know that. I only ask because I've been hearing a lot about the Askran royalty lately. None of which are good. It's actually a bit concerning, and with everything else going on…I'd feel better knowing it's just some stupid rumor.'

Checking to make sure that he'd read it all now, Alfonse took out what he needed and wrote a reply. It was practically the bare minimum, however much he wished he didn't feel the need to exclude so much, though he asked what Zacharias had heard specifically so then he could better form a proper answer.

Guessing that it would be dark soon and thus too late to send out the letter today, Alfonse set it with the ones Zacharias had sent him. He then pulled out the duplicate versions of the papers in an attempt to once again try to understand what it was.

He weaved through the Heroes making their way to the dining hall, greeting whoever greeted him. As soon as he got to the library, he lit one of the candles, set it on the table he'd be using, and spread out the papers.

"You're not getting something to eat?"

"No, I'm…not really hungry. You?" he answered, glancing at his sister.

Sharena shrugged. "I ate earlier."

"Care to join me, then? I'm not having much luck with this on my own." It was actually starting to bother him a bit. Zacharias was right, too—Sharena really did have a knack for seeing things in a light that neither of the boys would've even considered. Whether it actually turned out to be helpful was another matter entirely.

She nodded, walking over to him. "So what are these about, anyway? You've been staring at them all week…"

"Remember the letters? It still has to do with that." That was just about the only way he could really think of explaining it without giving away who he was helping. Sure, Zacharias permitted Sharena to help, but that didn't necessarily mean that he wanted her to know what they were doing.

"Must be someone important, then." She picked up one of the papers and stared at it for a moment. "I'll be honest, this looks like a crossword puzzle. Is there a quill somewhere?"

Both surprised that she figured something out so soon and annoyed that he hadn't seen it himself, he handed her a quill and pushed the inkwell closer (he could only hope the ink wasn't dried out, though, given it was out when he got there).

Sharena put the paper back down, then began lightly circling words. After a couple minutes, she sat the quill on the table, looking quite proud of herself. "I think I found all of them. Still doesn't make sense, though. 'Were,' 'we,' 'given,' 'told,' another 'we,' 'time,' 'would,' and 'be.'"

He wasn't sure how or why he thought of this almost immediately. "'We were told we would be given time.'" Alfonse handed her the next closest. "Can you try this one?"

The discovery seemed to excite her a little, too. She finished this one a bit later. "'Had,' 'us,' 'loss,' 'but,' 'only,' 'they,' 'given,' 'the,' 'thing,' and 'only.'"

"'But the only thing they had given us was loss.'"

"How are you even figuring this out?"

"I have absolutely no idea. But let's continue." He passed the rest of them to her and waited.

"'That,' 'not,' 'this,' 'tell,' 'we,' 'stand,' 'for,' 'will,' and 'everyone.'"

"'Tell everyone that we will not stand for this.'"

"'Our,' 'desires,' 'we,' 'supply,' 'god,' another 'our,' 'shall,' 'blood,' 'the,' 'with,' 'own,' and 'that.'"

"'We shall supply with our own the blood that our god desires.'"

"'Silence,' 'the,' 'of,' 'over,' 'time,' and 'is.'"

"'The time of silence is over.'"

"'We,' 'done,' 'and,' 'are,' and 'when.'"

"'And when we are done…'"

"'Will,' 'only,' 'faithful,' 'remain,' 'and,' 'the,' and 'truthful.'"

"'Only the faithful and truthful will remain.'"

Sharena frowned. "What's that supposed to mean..?"

"I don't know. But I have a feeling…we'll be finding out pretty soon."

(A/N: You know, for all this talk about Embla and Veronica, I don't actually plan on showing the reader exactly what's happening. There might be some reference to it when Veronica joins up with them again, though.

This is the last time you ever hear of Zacharias's letters. Alfonse's question is still answered—just not by Zacharias. Veronica probably just decided to stop acting like she didn't know.

Also, cliffhangers! This is the final actual chapter of this story. There's one bonus that I'll post soon, then you've just got to keep a look out for the next addition—Turning Point. Don't want to miss it? Just follow me here and get notified whenever I upload a new story or chapter; it's only going to be FE-related stuff for the foreseeable future, too.

Want some bonus content like concept art, scenes, character sheets, and possibly insight on the AU and current progress? Have some questions for almost ALL of the characters featured in my stories? Then check out my DeviantArt, puppy-luvr06! Even simply viewing is appreciated!)


	22. Bonus- Creation

{-?-}

I was born of a child's dream…what he feared and what he loved is what I am. He feared many things, but for every one of his fears there was something he loved. Loyal to his family and the ones he held dear, yet he was ever so afraid of losing or hurting them. Kind of funny, actually, if one is to consider me and him as family—he let the others separate us, to "control" me. All they did was hurt me. And sweet little Nathen let it all happen. So caring for those who've done nothing but fill him with fear and regret and worry yet completely oblivious to something of his own creation, which he'd love oh so much in the beginning…

As for my first moments of life? Not much to tell, really.

I was made where all dreams are. Where all kids go to dream. We were both so young then. Those times were quite simple…play, he wakes up, I wait for him to come back, and we play again.

But I grew tired of waiting for him for what felt like years, each time a little older than the last. I found a way to leave my first prison. I couldn't leave for long, but I was able to play with him just a while longer each day. I never had to grasp the concept of if he'd ever forget me, or move on, or be afraid. He never did, either. That decision…was completely against both of our wills.

I remember that day clearly. Nathen was seven and I wasn't much older. His guardians had given him a present, which Nathen believed to be an early birthday gift. Of course I was the only one to think that was a little odd—his birthday was still a few months away, after all. It all felt wrong to me, but I had been excited as well, so I let him open it.

It was a feather necklace. Seeing him hold it, I could tell it was quite sturdy and possibly fake; even my younger self knew feathers were soft and delicate, whereas this gift was harder. It also shimmered with an odd, purple tint in the light, and it gave me an awful feeling just looking at it.

When Nathen put it on, I was no longer by his side. I wasn't even in the realm of my birth. Everything around me…was black. I didn't possess anything that I had. But I still heard his voice; I heard his "friends." And I felt increasingly angry hearing them treat him so horribly, keeping him from everything he has a right to know about. Everything I could've told him if they hadn't locked me away.

One day, I saw a flash of death—bloody walls and floors, people of various emotion strewn across the floor, even a few dismemberments. The young me had been terrified. Until I saw a few faces I knew.

Well, two faces. I'd seen them both in the waking and dreaming worlds, when Nathen would show them to me. They were his "half-brother's" family. The younger boy's mother and aunt. And I knew, deep down, who did this.

I immediately knew it was time to leave this prison, just as I had the first.

I'd never interacted with Nathen's step-brother before. But I found myself there naturally. It was odd to be able to sense his fears like I did with Nathen…and then how I realized the fears of everyone else in proximity. I vividly remember someone nearby fearing the death of her friends, but a smaller fear that whispered about hoping she was able to get the dirt stain off of the clothes she was washing.

I tried warning him; bringing the fear of his mother to mind. And I was horrified once more as I realized I'd hurt him in my efforts to help. As the girl worrying about cleaning checked on him, I tried to bring up the fear to her, too, but I couldn't get to her. When the boy's father came in, I tried to get him to call back the boy's mother, in hopes of preventing her horrible fate, but another woman, whom I quickly realized was the boy's other aunt, stopped me from reaching him. Not long after I had the feeling that it was already too late to try to help.

Nathen never realized any of it. I tried talking to him, but he treated me with disgust. Whatever efforts I made to help us see eye-to-eye once more went in vain. I wasted out the years in silence, hushed by whatever force had kept me in that darkness.

It was a while before I found myself in the real world again. Though like the last, it was not by happy means. I'd just seen with my own eyes Nathen hurting a little girl—the same boy as before was in it, so I came to him.

He didn't listen to me. I did my best to be friendly, but there must've been something that set him off. In the end…I hurt him. He was just about to blow my cover, and in those years caged up I must've gotten a better grasp on the physical world than I ever thought possible. Thrown off by a presence of another person, I had no choice but to leave.

A few weeks later I found myself back in the place of my birth. I struggled back to the real world to spend what I knew my final moments were going to be with my creator.

Maybe it was me. Maybe it was him. But it didn't matter to anyone. I watched and was apart of almost killing the sweet little girl. I just sat there and observed through Nathen's eyes those last few days.

Times are different. We both know who we are. I was able to roam free in the world of nightmares—likely the true land of my birth—and stayed untethered from Nathen even after we left.

I'm in a new place now. It's a lot like our old home, actually. I can recognize a few people and places. I can't sense Nathen at all anymore. He left with Mother's Heart a while ago and must have left the world. And as I consider embracing my complete freedom, I'm finding myself connecting to another person…

She's a lot like Nathen, really. Her dreams are so vivid, so full of life…yet she's afraid of what they mean. I've been following her around for a while now. I plan on making my first move to get to know her soon. Maybe…maybe I can save her from the same kind of fate as Nathen, wherever he is right now. I can't help the feeling that I'm both doing something wrong and right at the same time.

I can only hope I'm making the right decision.


	23. Bonus- Things to Come

(A/N: I lied, there's two bonuses. But this is the last.)

{-Henriette-}

Peaceful meadows stretched for as far as the eye could see, with the castle's shadow barely looming over them. A collection of noblewomen sat at the table that had been prepared for them, sharing stories as their husbands worked.

"Whoever had raised the boy to that point was well on manners," Henriette said. "He held doors for others and always seemed to be helping out in some place or another. Not to mention he did considerably well with Sharena."

"And you still have no idea where he came from?"

She shook her head. "It was a topic he tried to avoid, no matter how nicely it was asked. If the kids ever learned more then they certainly aren't fond of sharing." Then again it wouldn't be the only thing she felt like they weren't telling her. It might also help that the only way she even remotely talked to them wasn't through letters, but that was something she couldn't change. "I wish I knew what he's doing now."

There was a general mutter of agreement, soon followed by a louder greeting.

Henriette felt her husband's hand on her shoulder and looked up at him. It took a second to recognize his expression—the kind of something's-wrong-but-I'm-not-telling that only she could understand. "That was a quick meeting," she remarked as if she didn't notice. "Let us finish up here."

"I just need you for a moment," Gustav replied. "They can stay a while longer; no need to rush."

She got up from her seat. "Well, I need to talk to you about something, too." Much quieter as to keep the others from hearing, she continued, "It's about your son."

"Do I really want to know what he's doing now..?" They walked out of earshot of the others, though kept in more hushed voices.

"Most likely not," she answered honestly, sighing. "He came over the other day and asked about the visitor we had a few years back. I told him what I knew, but…I'm afraid he might find something he's not supposed to."

"He's smart enough that he would've found out eventually no matter what we did. What he does with that information is what we should be concerned about," Gustav said dismissively.

But Henriette wasn't quite done yet. "That's a truth that's not ready to be told. They're going to look into it and find themselves in something they can't get themselves out of." Given Gustav's look that showed he just want the topic to change, she decided it was just a mom thing. Then again they did have their different ways of caring and his wasn't particularly of the showy kind.

"And right now there's something that demands more of our attention." He made sure there still wasn't anyone near enough to hear them before he continued. "They're coming back."

"We have dozens of visitors every month, dear; you're going to need to be more specific," she pointed out. "Unless…"

His grim frown was the only answer she needed. "Enough is happening that isn't simply chance—it's a little hard to deny who was behind it."

"W-well we need to warn the kids, then."

"I think you're forgetting letters can be intercepted. They should be able to take care of themselves, just as they have been for the past six years."

"That was different! They don't know what they'd be messing with. They won't even know how to properly take care of the problem. We can't just do nothing." Henriette was half aware of the fact the ladies had stopped talking, most likely to try to hear what they were seemingly arguing over. "At the very least we can pull them aside for a few moments to give them a warning." She knew that was more of a hope—they always seemed busy up until the moment they needed something from home. Even then it wasn't like they went out of their way to talk to her.

"We weren't much older than they are and we did just fine, didn't we?"

"But we had friends and half an army and—"

"They have those things, too. The Order is admittedly just as prepared as ours, and they have allies. If they're even remotely anything like I've heard, they'll make it through." He was being too calm about this.

She couldn't believe she was about to say this. "You're putting too much faith in them." Despite the statement itself normally taken in a harsh manner, she only said it out of concern and love for her children. "They don't have what turned the tides in our favor all those years ago. They don't even know what it is."

"It was supposed to be the permanent fix, yet we're having this conversation," Gustav reminded her. "They might find the solution we couldn't. With any luck we'll have more time to properly prepare for whatever might come; I'll be leaving tomorrow to see just how much time that might be."

"Just be careful, alright? I'm not ready to be a widow just yet." She didn't think Askr was quite ready to lose their king or for Alfonse and Sharena to lose their father, either. But the only thing she could do was pray for good results.

"I promise I'll come back."

Henriette nodded. "Shall I make the arrangements for a meeting with the kids while you're gone? They'll need to hear the results, and if I'm correct…don't you have a bit of apologizing to do?" He clearly was a bit hesitant to agree, so she continued. "Just a quiet dinner with the four of us will be fine. You'll apologize, we'll all eat, you'll explain what they might be encountering, and I'll make sure you actually tell them everything they need to know. Honestly there's nothing to be worried about—they're both like you in one way or another."

"On that I make no promises."


End file.
